


Endgame 2.0

by Sapphire_of_SHIELD



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: A whole lot of angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, As you can tell, Avengers Tower, Avengers watch Peter's memories, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame Fix-It, Avengers: Infinity War Fix-It, But I'm working on it, Civil War Fix-It, Domestic Avengers, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fix-It, I do enjoy comments but you don't have to if you don't want to, I'm Sorry, I'm trying, I'm trying to explain, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark Friendship, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Peter will suffer, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Smol bean Peter Parker, Time Travel Fix-It, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, but don't worry there is definitely IronDad because I live for it, but he's definitely not weak, but who knows, did I mention there will be angst?, he tries his best, i highly dislike OOC characters, i hope the characters aren't OOC, it just helps me stay motivated, it's just really hard with Tony's shell, its not working, maybe she'll show up once everything has calmed down, oh yes this fixes Civil War too, okay thats enough tags, please please please tell me if a character doesn't seem right or is OOC because I want to fix it, there's no Morgan Stark in the beginning because Peter goes into the past, what is the limit for these things, which is a hell of a lot better than a lot of people's best, why am i still going with these tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2020-03-05 14:58:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18831004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sapphire_of_SHIELD/pseuds/Sapphire_of_SHIELD
Summary: Peter Parker remembers it all.Remembers aliens, Titan, Thanos, the stones.Remembers every atom in his body splitting, and the agony that followed.Remembers looking up at his mentor's grief-stricken eyes and muttering a small 'I'm sorry' before he was one with the wind.He was gone.But now he has the chance to take that all back.Today, Peter Parker can make a difference.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheSecretUchiha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSecretUchiha/gifts).



> Welcome to Endgame 2.0! Aka, what I think should have happened in Endgame. 
> 
> I don't normally have a plan for my stories, because they're normally one-shots, but for this, I have a plot that is possibly as confusing as the Endgame movie itself! It won't ever measure up in greatness to the actual movie; it never will, nor am I trying to make it that way, but it's... certainly difficult to put the plot into words. The rules of time travel are confusing, but I've spent some time researching and threading together details to hopefully ensure that there will be no plot holes.
> 
> Also, I don't know whether anyone read that mess of tags, but please, if you see any grammar mistakes or glaringly obvious OOC characterizations, please point them out to me! I mostly write my stories very very late at night, going into the early hours of the morning, and generally, the fact that I've written the story makes me gloss right over any mistakes. I normally read chapters over 1-2 times, but after writing them and knowing what it's meant to say, my brain automatically fixes grammar mistakes in my head without me noticing, sadly. And as for the OOC characters, I try to get them as accurate as possible, but sometimes I slip up. It's difficult to make characters seem real rather than just 2D, and while some people may think that it's just Tony or Natasha who are hard to characterize (they are hard, but so is everyone else), all the other characters have layers as well. I try and project that in my stories, so if you read one of them doing something that seems completely out of character, tell me and I'll do some research to fix it! 
> 
> Remember- this story is for your all's enjoyment as much as mine, so please don't hold back on the criticism; it's what makes me a better writer. :)

Peter Parker felt it.

He closed his eyes and felt every atom in his body split, flakes of his very being dissipate into the wind of the cruel planet he had started to call his own personal hell.

He stumbled into the arms of the only person here he truly knew.

The man who'd saved his life time and time again.

The man who reminded him of _home._

He clutched desperately to Tony Stark, Iron Man. Though right now, in his mind, his only thought was _hurt, hurt, hurt._ So he sought the only comforting presence on this god-forsaken planet. He held onto his mentor, the man who'd helped fill the place of his father and Uncle Ben, the one person other than his aunt who made him feel truly safe.

Peter Parker, Spider-Man, was dying.

His senses were screaming _dangerdangerdanger_ and his healing was struggling to pull his body back together, to stop the inevitable.

But looking into his mentor's eyes, dismal with pain, he knew there was nothing either of them could do, as much as they yearned to.

So Peter stopped fighting.

He barely registered falling backwards and crashing into the hard rock beneath him, or the feel of his mentor's warm arms around him. He could only look into Tony's face (when had he become Tony?) and see the inevitable mirrored back at him in those dull eyes.

As he let go, he whispered his last words, the ones he wished could ease the pain in his father figure's heart but knew they wouldn't. He wished he could say so much more.

_I'm sorry._

And then his body disintegrated into the wind and his words followed, chasing after his remains and echoing mournfully around the dusty red planet.

I'm sorry.

And Tony sat up, a single tear rolling down his cheek.

Because the kid had died, and it was on him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long, I had some family issues.  
> 

It was quiet. Completely silent.

There was nothing.

Until there was something.

Peter's eyes snapped open and he drew in a shuddering breath, immediately starting to cough. He could feel his atoms binding back together again and it hurt, but it was receding pain instead of increasing pain now, which was good, he supposed. He was still coughing and wasn't drawing in any air, much to his lungs' dismay. The teen was vaguely aware of someone hitting him on the back to try and stop his coughs and multiple alarmed voices echoing in his ears.

"Ow." he rasped. "Please... quiet..." 

Everything fell completely silent- not even a whisper disturbing the air.

Odd. Nothing had been this quiet since he had gotten the spider bite; he could always hear something.

He squinted open his eyes, preparing himself for a bright light- anything, really. What he was met with, however, was a dim, shimmering wall of scarlet red light. He blinked open his eyes, ready to slam them shut again in case a light did happen to shine on his eyes, but he was able to fully open them without any unforeseen consequences.

Everything slowly came into focus, and he rapidly sat up, turning in a full circle. "What-" he breathed out. The red dissipated into whisps, and he was face to face with people who had been his enemies less than a year ago.

The Scarlet Witch stared him in the face, eyes returning to her normal color. Peter realized that she had trapped him in a bubble with her powers so he wasn't disturbed as he regained his senses.

And as Peter spun around yet again, breathing picking up in panicked breaths, he recognized his surroundings.

Around him were the Avengers, every one of them.

He was back at the airport battle in Leipzig.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize that this took so long to post and that it was so pitifully short. Next chapter will be longer, I promise.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter Parker finally tells the Avengers about the threat of Thanos and they forgo their battle in lieu of more... important things.
> 
> Namely, the prevention of the destruction of half the universe.
> 
> What a mouthful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no editor and I'm writing this at 1 AM so I apologize for any grammar mistakes. (I'd be up for having a person to read it beforehand to catch mistakes- a beta, I believe they're called?- but no one's offered so sORRY I honestly have no idea how it works or how someone finds one).

Peter's eyes locked on Mr. Stark's, chest heaving, and he immediately thought back to the last time he'd seen the man.

_I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go, Mr. Stark, **please** -_

Mr. Stark looked confused, eyes raking over Peter's form, clad in the Iron Spider suit (and probably covered in blood and _dust_ ).

"Peter?" the man asked, taking a step towards the boy, and that was all he needed to bolt into Tony's arms, shaking as his own words circled endlessly in his head.

Peter was once again reminded of their impromptu hug. He hadn't realized until now that it was actually their first hug.

 _And your last._ His mind prompted.

 _No, no, not going there. I'm alive, I'm here, I don't know how, but I'm here._ he insisted.

He was holding onto Mr. Stark as tight as he could, mind on default as it tried to hold itself together, not realizing that the threat had passed. The man in question staggered back in surprise at the weight, but he held him up nonetheless.

It took him a couple of moments to realize that Mr. Stark, despite holding him up, was completely rigid, and Peter felt horror wash over him as he realized, once again, exactly where he was, and more importantly, _what time._

He was in Leipzig, meaning that he- or the past version of him- had only met Tony Stark a week ago. They hadn't gone through any bonding moments, he hadn't had his suit taken away or fought the Vulture- he hadn't worked with Mr. Stark in his lab yet (that would be in a couple more months), and he hadn't taken the picture with him holding his internship certificate, which was the moment where they really cemented their- dare he say- 'father-son relationship.' (Neither of them had ever wanted to admit it, for fear of their pasts coming back to bite them- Mr. Stark with his father's crappy parenting and Peter with his 'every-one-of-my-father-figures-died').

With these thoughts racing through his mind, he stepped back from the man, tears streaking his face, yet he held himself as rigid as the person across from him.

"Underoos, _what_ -" Mr. Stark said, cutting himself off as he took in the sight of Peter again. Peter's mind was supplying him with all the things that were different between this Mr. Stark and _his_ Mr. Stark. This one was wearing his old armor, clunky and slower compared to his sleeker nanotech suit. This one held himself stiffer, jaw clenched- though Peter supposed that was because he'd been dropped right in the middle of a battle- and was sporting the nasty bruise on his right eye that Peter remembered he'd tried to wink with when they first met. Though most importantly, this one had the harsh undertone when speaking to Peter, the two not yet acquainted more than members of the same team in battle, and it contrasted sharply to the fonder, softer tone Mr. Stark usually had while speaking to him.

Peter's brain could take substantial amounts of stress, especially given the situation, but it couldn't take these changes on top of everything else. Through most the changes in the past two years of his life, Mr. Stark had been a constant- his _rock_ \- there to support him through all else. And these differences between this Tony and his Tony were harsh, grating on his senses, and he broke down, tears streaming down his face now.

In any other situation, he'd be embarrassed to be crying so openly in front of every single Avenger (bar Bruce Banner and Thor). But he'd just _died_ , and everything else paled in comparison.

"Mr. _Stark_." he choked out, crumpling to the ground, hyperventilating. He knew this was a panic attack, and he was waiting for Mr. Stark to be there, to coax him to _breathe_. But as he looked up, the man was standing there, hesitating, unsure of his place because _what was going on, what was he_ **wearing** _, where is the normal Spider-Man suit, and **what the fuck is going on.**_

"Peter, what's going on, I don't understand," Tony said, taking an unsure step towards him. When Peter was unresponsive, he took another step. "Underoos, _please_ , you've got to explain. What's going on? That's not the suit I gave you."

He felt the Avengers glance sharply at him at the mention of giving this _kid_ a suit, but he ignored them. He paused, scrutinizing the kid's face.

"You look older."

"Older?" Rhodey hissed. "Tones, he's _fifteen_."

"Sixteen." Peter gasped, garnering unamused looks from the gathered Avengers, though that didn't seem so important now. It just served him to think of the... dusting.

Dead at sixteen.

Not something to put on your resume.

He barked a laugh, throat hoarse, though it turned to a sob halfway through.

"Is that _blood_?" Mr. Stark's voice cut through his thoughts, voice horrified.

Was it? He'd been pretty beaten up by Thanos, but he didn't remember being stabbed or anything.

Mr. Stark was, though.

His brain shut that thought out before he could ponder on it. He was already gasping for breath, no need to add to the panic.

"Tony, he's terrified." a female voice cut in. The Black Widow? "You know how to deal with panic attacks, and recognize them as well." Peter saw Mr. Stark shoot Black Widow a half glare for mentioning his panic attacks.

"Yeah, I may know how to deal with panic attacks, but I don't know how to deal with" he gestured at Peter's hunched form. "kids."

Peter felt like he'd been stabbed in the heart with that statement, the tears flowing ever more freely.

How was this the same man who'd held him in those last moments as he'd slipped away, shedding a tear of his own?

The familiarity was all gone. Peter had never in his life once thought to use the words cold and unfeeling to describe Mr. Stark in any way, but at the moment, those were the two most accurate words to use.

Yet even as he was thinking these thoughts, he felt a _familiar_ pressure on his shoulders. It grounded him, and his gasping for air was calmed a bit. His vision cleared and he was met with Mr. Stark's face.

"Breathe, kid," he said softly- well, soft for this version of him. It wasn't- it wasn't the _same_ , but it was a hell of a lot closer than before. As Peter's gasping slowed to a more normal rhythm, Mr. Stark made a move to take his hands away, but Peter moved instinctively, gripping the hands that were grounding him and pleading to Mr. Stark in his head.

_Please don't leave me, please don't leave Tony._

He looked surprised, but he stayed, eyes searching Peter's face. After a moment of silence that felt suffocating yet also necessary, Mr. Stark spoke again.

"Can you tell us what's going on, Peter? You just- you were over by the trucks in your red and blue suit and then two seconds later, you- the other you- disappeared and you popped in, wearing this iron suit and bleeding and hyperventilating and covered in dirt," he said, trying to keep the same soft tone of voice. He was _trying_ , Peter could tell that much. "You startled us, kiddo."

Peter swallowed and spoke, voice wobbling and tears threatening to fall- but he can't cry, not now, not while he's telling them this.

"Thanos." he croaked, and welp, there goes the no crying plan.

Mr. Stark looked a bit alarmed at the tears restarting, but he didn't move an inch. 

"Who's Thanos?" Captain America spoke this time, and Peter realized they'd all moved closer.

Any other moment and he'd be asking about Cap's shield because _that thing did not obey the laws of physics_. But they were kind of in a crisis, so he waited to fanboy until later. He'd pretty much ruined his image with all the crying and panicking anyways so it could wait.

"Thanos," Peter said again, eyes wild with an immeasurable amount of pain- pain that no adult should feel, much less a _kid_. The Avengers thought they had heavy hearts then, but what Peter said next chilled them to the bone. "He- he's going to kill half of all life in the universe _with a snap of his fingers_. You have to stop him. _We failed_. You _have to stop him_."

~ ~ ~

Peter sat hunched with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders as he watched Mr. Stark pace.

The rest of the Avengers were crowded in the room as well. They'd forgone the battle and pushed the Accords to the side, opting to deal with Ross and the backlash later. From what they'd heard from Peter, they figured they had more important things to deal with.

At first, they were skeptical, whispering in the background as Peter sat with glazed eyes, staring into the distance. They had to believe him. They had to.

"What if he's making this up, Tony?"

Mr. Stark had gestured furiously in Peter's direction. "Does it sound like he's making things up? How would one teenager come up with that big and complicated of a story? Plus he looks traumatized." he paused there, lowering his voice. "And that suit... the Iron Spider suit. I only even _thought_ of it yesterday. How would he get the plans for that _exact suit_ from my head and build that, huh?"

They'd agreed to that afterwards while Peter blankly stared at a wall, a wave of relief crashing over him as Mr. Stark defended him. God knows he was too traumatized to explain it himself.

"Hello, Peter." Karen crackled in his ear. 

Peter nearly jumped out of his skin. "Karen?" he asked, voice breaking. The Avengers turned towards him, Mr. Stark stepping forward.

"Who are you talking to, Pete?" he asked, voice cautious, not wanting the teen to shut down. Peter hated it.

"My AI.," he said shortly. Tony's eyes lit up after that and he practically dashed forward. Peter and the Avengers reeled back in surprise.

"We'll talk later on why you named your AI after Plankton's wife-" _how the hell did he know that,_ Peter thought, cheeks heating up "- _but_ , that is really, really good because she would have recorded everything. Everything we need to know."

"Yeah, the Baby Monitor Protocol." Peter grumped, and this time Mr. Stark reeled back.

"How'd you know that?" he asked cautiously as a couple of the Avengers snickered in the background at the choice of words.

"I hacked into the first suit you gave me and disabled it," Peter said, sighing. "You made this one so I couldn't do that."

He could've sworn he saw Mr. Stark's lips twitch upwards in the corners.

"Knew you were a bright one," he muttered. "Do you know what information it has on it?"

Peter thought back to when Mr. Stark had given him the suit. While they were waiting on Titan, Peter had talked to Karen to find out more about the suit so he'd be ready for the upcoming battle. He'd been informed that everything from his previous suit had been uploaded onto this one. Mostly because of his hilarious Avengers impressions that Mr. Stark had gotten a good laugh out of (Peter had been mortified).

But Peter didn't exactly _want_ the Avengers looking through his video monitor. Partially because of the embarrassing videos on it, but also because he really didn't want the Avengers watching his last, painful moments with Mr. Stark. He frankly didn't want _Mr. Stark_ to see that either. It seemed like an invasion of his and - well, _his_ Mr. Stark's privacy. That had been _their_ moment.

But he also knew that they needed this information. That was what he'd been sent here for, right? To stop Thanos. And he'd seen a lot of it. Thanos' fighting technique, what they'd done wrong, what they'd done right. He knew it was necessary. 

So he nodded, and in a cracked, small, voice, said: "Y- yeah, it's got everything on it." he said quietly. So when Mr. Stark held out a case- a case Peter recognized as the holding case for the suit so that Mr. Stark could extract the needed information- he allowed the nanites to slide off him. He was left in his original Stark suit, the one he'd been clinging to the side of the spaceship in.

Mr. Stark gave a small smile. "Wondered where that went." he then turned to the rest of the Avengers, holding the case, and plugged it into some contraption. Said contraption made a holographic screen pop up, and with a short discussion between Mr. Stark, Karen, and FRIDAY, footage from the very first battle started playing.

As Peter started to relive- from his own eyes- himself pulling on his Spider-Man mask and swinging out of the school bus, he realized he couldn't do this a second time. He turned and bolted from the room just as the alien donut ship came into his view on the screen.

He heard Mr. Stark give a small protest from behind him, but he was quickly quieted by Black Widow, and he was allowed to leave in peace. Well, as peacefully as he could while running. His feet instinctively took him to the room he'd ended up staying in when he came over to the lab sometimes. It was- or in the future would become- his room. Currently, however, it was completely bare. Though that may have something to do with the fact that he hadn't been offered the room yet, and that nothing had been moved from Avengers Tower yet. The Compound had been built but wasn't really used until the Avengers' fallout over the Accords. 

Thinking about all this, however, just served to make Peter think about the plane and the Vulture, so he shut that train of thought off as well, opting to flop on the bed that was so familiar yet so foreign. And as memories flew past behind his eyes- memories of Mr. Stark carrying him up to this very bed when he was half asleep- he allowed the tears to break free again.

He knew he'd have to get up eventually.

He knew he'd have to fight Thanos again, no matter how difficult it may be.

He'd been given a second chance. He didn't know why it was him and not someone else, but he'd been given too many chances in his life and blown them off. He can't do that this time. Last time Uncle Ben died.

This time, it could be half the universe.

Peter Parker broke down that night, gave in to the darkness for just that night. He allowed himself to cry, because you cry when you're afraid or sad, and _god_ , he was both right now. He was so afraid he was virtually paralyzed. And who wouldn't be sad if they were ripped from somewhere they knew, with people they knew better than themselves, and dumped back in time, where everything and nothing were the same? 

Time traveling is not all it's cracked up to be.

Spider-Man may have broken down that night, may have let himself be down for those few hours. But the Avengers needed him tomorrow. The world needed him, because he was the one who had the most knowledge of the threat, and like hell if he was passing that chance up. So he'd be there tomorrow.

Because heroes may break down, but they always get back up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, obviously, this was longer than the other chapters, and I hope you liked it!!
> 
> I plan for the next chapter to be like, the Avengers watching a couple of scenes from Infinity War, namely where Peter pops in and has that discussion with Mr. Stark before being beamed up into space (I really want to get that scene where Peter's clinging to the side of the spaceship and Tony calls him Pete and the Avengers start questioning what Peter was to Tony and such). And then I'll skip over most of the spaceship and overall battle scene with only some abbreviated reactions to it because otherwise it'll take too long, and then I'm definitely going to do the dusting scene.
> 
> But then I'm going to make chapter 4 where Tony, like the Avengers, is questioning who Peter was to him- because he called him 'Pete' and then the dusting scene and all that... and then that chapter is going to be mostly me making up some scenes of them growing closer and closer, Tony watching Peter's life through his eyes and seeing all the little lab moments and things Karen recorded of the two... and yeah. Basically that. And then I've got some plans for future chapters but I don't want to tell you all yet because that would spoil it, but I'm really excited to be delving back into this story.
> 
> So... yeah. I hope you enjoyed it! I found the concept of Peter going back to Civil War really interesting because Tony and Peter haven't gotten close yet... Poor Tony, he has no clue what's going on and he's just trying his best...
> 
> Chapter 4 is going to be p a i n f u l for Tony and Peter after Tony watches everything and they're gonna have their discussion that I know you all w a n t-
> 
> I NEED TO GO BEFORE I GIVE THE WHOLE PLOT AWAY BYE-


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and the other Avengers present at the battle of Leipzig watch the events leading up to the Snap and Peter's death through Peter's eyes.
> 
> or,
> 
> The Baby Monitor Protocol is actually helpful for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This should be very obvious but I realized I haven't actually written this yet before, but all characters and such belong to Marvel and I do not in any way own them. In this one specific chapter, I've taken aspects from Infinity War (I didn't take the whole script, just a few of the actions and a couple of lines) and made them into a parody of sorts (it's not really a parody per se- it's not sardonic but it is an imitation so...) where I make it from Peter's POV and tie in parts of my story from it. Other parts of my plot will be references to Endgame and stuff, but only minor, so most of the plot is my own. Everything else is owned by Marvel, though.

The holographic screen shimmered, pulling up an image of what seemed to be the inside of a school bus, and Tony had his heart in his throat, not knowing what they'd see, but knowing it'd be... far from ideal.

He instinctively looked around at the Avengers before starting it. They may have had a fallout, but at least they hadn't actually engaged in a physical fight before the kid interrupted them. Tony wondered what would've happened if he didn't, and scribbled a mental note in his mind to check with Peter's AI and watch any available footage on that. 

Tony's eyes swept around the room, taking inventory of everyone's faces and cataloging their disturbed, worried, unsure faces in the back of his mind. On one hand, they knew exactly what they'd see, thanks to Peter's explanation, but on the other, it left a lot up to the imagination. Thanos, as Peter had called him, was a big purple alien? How was he supposed to imagine that? How tall? What were his features? When asked, Peter had flashed a small smile and let out a cracked laugh, shaking his head. He'd looked a bit lost in his memories for a moment, eyes glazing over, and then he'd said simply: He's got a nutsack for a chin. Steve had choked, and Tony and Clint had given small, identical barks of laughter at the unique choice of words. Peter had spared Steve a glance, the edges of his mouth quirking upwards, and had said that they could think of it as a panini chin instead if that made them feel better. Tony had grinned, almost forgetting that they were talking about the guy who'd wiped out half the universe, until Peter's eyes had dimmed, face taking on that sad expression again, and the weight of it all had hit him like a ton of cement.

Speaking of the kid... Tony's eyes snagged on his pale, terrified face, and he found he couldn't look away. This was _Peter_ , the kid who he'd met but a week ago and had essentially kidnapped him and dragged him to Germany to fight Cap. In hindsight, it was pretty stupid, though if you made a list of his life's choices and the level of idiocy of each one, this wouldn't even make the top 25. Maybe the top 50.

Regardless, this was Spider-Man, the 14-year-old (well, this version of him was 16, but details) who'd sat on the edge of his creaky bed in his small-ass apartment, schooling Tony Stark on responsibility. Not that it was difficult to inform Tony about responsibility, no, because he generally didn't pay much attention to that sort of thing- to a degree, mind you, he still had to be responsible for _some_ things. No, the difficult part was to get him to listen.

'When you can do the things I can, but you don't, and _then_ the bad things happen? They happen because of you.'

He'd been knocked speechless because of those words. Of course, after a second where it'd felt like all the air had been sucked out of his chest and he was completely vulnerable because of a _14-year-old kid_ , his mask was back up and he was snarking at the kid to move his leg because that's just what he does. 

But he hadn't been able to sleep that night.

He'd wandered down to the lab and had found himself just thinking. He couldn't tell whether the kid was exactly like him, or completely and utterly different, and that terrified him. He'd never been unable to get a read on anyone like he was unable to get a read on that kid, except for maybe Natasha. But it was different for her- everyone knew she hid things. Peter had everything laid out in the open in that raw, vulnerable moment and Tony had seen himself. He'd seen a boy who'd lost far, far too much, who took what he had and made the best out of it. That much, Tony knew, knew because it was essentially looking at a younger version of himself. But where Tony had filled in the open wounds left in his heart with booze and sex, Peter filled in with responsibility and endless love. Where Tony had covered up, blocked himself off from the outside, protecting himself from being hit because he was afraid he wouldn't be able to get back up, Peter had opened himself up once again, not afraid of being hit because he _knew_ he'd get back up. And he was better because of it, Tony could see.

Just like with human bones. Each time you walk, you get small, tiny fractures in your bones, which is why your legs are sore after walking so much. But each time, your body makes up for it by adding more layers to said bone, building it up more and more and more so it's stronger. If one is afraid to walk for fear of being hurt, their bones will be the same and not have that layered protection, the strength that comes from being rebuilt every time. The one who doesn't walk may feel safer, not being injured just a tiny bit every time they take a step. But when it comes down to it, when those two bones are put to the test, which one will break easier? The one that's been shielded, hidden away with no opportunity to build itself up. That's Tony. 

He may feel safer now, with his masks intact, but when it comes down to it, between him or Peter, he'll be the one who breaks, who falls and maybe doesn't have the strength to get back up. But then there's Peter, the strong one, the one who builds himself up- and maybe he's scared, but he does it anyway. And maybe if Tony breaks, Peter will help him back up, because one broken bone doesn't mean the body stops functioning. The other bones will help, bear the weight the broken one was supposed to take while it heals, and once it does, it'll be stronger than before. 

After that night, Tony thought he understood responsibility a whole lot more. And all it took? One sentence from a certain kid named Peter Parker.

Well, one sentence and the 5-hour self-reflection-when-he-should-be-sleeping period of time afterward.

Tony was snapped back to the present when he realized he'd been scrutinizing the kid for a second too long, and he tore his eyes away from the kid's trembling form to the holo-screen in front of him.

Half of him wanted to comfort the kid- probably because of the 'responsibility' line again, Peter was a little shit for messing with his head like this- but the other half was still hiding behind those masks he created for himself, and so far those masks had always won in the end (though they almost, _almost_ didn't this time, god, what was this kid doing to him it's literally been _one week-_ ). So, not knowing what to do and knowing that hesitating was just eating away at everyone in the room, he pressed play and the memories began.

A barrage of screams and yells assaulted their ears, and it took Tony one terrifying second to realize that most of them were excited yells, not terrified.

_'It's a spaceship!'_

_'That's so cool!'_

_'We're all gonna die!'_

Well, _most_ of them were excited.

They hadn't even gotten 5 seconds into the clip where video-Peter had slipped on his mask, climbed out the window of the bus, and was about to jump off the side, when real-Peter jumped up from his seat, a couple of shades paler than he was before, and bolted out of the room. Just as an alien spaceship that looked a bit like a donut appeared in video-Peter's vision.

Tony started forward, instinctively making a move to follow the kid because he'd dealt with panic attacks before and they _suck_ , but Natasha grabbed his arm and shook her head, whispering to leave him be and that he just needed space away from everything.

Tony nodded, breathing out in relief now that his instincts weren't screaming at him, and he was glad that Natasha had stopped him. He may feel like the world's biggest jerk thinking that, but he'd realized that he had absolutely no clue what he would say at all, or how to treat a panicking child he met a week ago, or really how to be a mentor. And if he had left in pursuit of the kid, he couldn't exactly turn around and come back without doing anything. So he settled for asking FRIDAY to notify him if there were any changes with the kid, relaxing the tiniest bit in the process.

Well, relaxing as much as he could when watching the chain of events that would inevitably lead to half the universe's _deaths_.

They watched as Peter swung out of the bus, swinging into an abandoned alleyway on his way to change into his full suit, before heading to Central Park, which was where the spaceship was... parked? crashed? just sitting there?

From Peter's eyes, Tony saw himself, in a much sleeker _nanotech_ armor, about to get nailed in the back with a giant alien hammer headed his way. He flinched, automatically bracing for the impact even though he knew, logically, that it wasn't actually him. But video-Peter swung faster than before, grabbing the hammer before it hit video-Tony. There was a moment of silence where a couple of people let out imperceptible sighs of relief.

_Peter then looked around the hammer at the giant alien holding it, saying 'Hey man!' in his cheerful voice before addressing Mr. Stark._

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_"What's up, Mr. Stark?"_

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_Tony turned around in surprise. "Kid, where'd you come from?"_

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_"A field trip, to MoMA!" his last word morphed into a yell as the alien grabbed Peter and threw him at a fountain. Despite this, Peter got back up again with no problem._

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_"What is this guy's problem, Mr. Stark?" Peter questioned, standing again._

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_"Uh, he's from space. He came here to steal a necklace from a wizard." Tony replied._

A couple of the Avengers smiled and let out a few chuckles at Tony's trademark snarky response, finding it even funnier when the kid accepted it without questioning anything. Rhodey shook his head.

"How long was he hanging out with you for that he actually _accepted_ that response? Getting used to you took me a good couple of years; the kid doesn't even look surprised." Tony's best friend said. Tony shrugged. He didn't know. In fact, he was surprised at the ease video-him displayed around the kid. He knew he'd have to spend a substantial amount of time around the kid to talk to him like that, but there's no way he was telling anyone else this information.

The video continued, and the duo continued to fight the giant alien until there was a flash of red, and a man on a... sentient cape? was flying through the park. The Avengers reeled back in slight confusion. However, the Tony and Peter on-screen were undeterred.

_"Kid, that's the wizard. Get on it." Tony said as the red flashed by, referring back to his earlier statement that aliens were trying to steal a necklace from a wizard._

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_"On it!" Peter echoed, swinging after a second alien._ They caught a short glimpse of his face through video-Peter's eyes, and they swore they heard him say:

_"Mr. Stark was right, he does look like Squidward."_

"Who the hell is Squidward?" Tony then muttered to himself, ignoring Rhodey's shit-eating grin.

"He's from Spongebob." his friend informed him.

"What the hell is Spongebob?" Tony asked, only more confused because he had no clue what any of that was.

"A kids' show," Wanda said. Tony's eyebrows furrowed.

Why would he be referencing a kids' show that he's never watched?

"Maybe the kid showed it to you," Rhodey said, eyes sparking with mirth at teasing his friend.

Said friend was not entirely amused, sighing. "He probably did." 

The rest of the Avengers shared bemused looks, wondering why Tony would admit to watching a kids' show _with_ a kid.

Tony turned back to the screen, watching as video-Peter nimbly swung between buildings, chasing Squidward and the wizard (he opted to call them this because he didn't actually know either of their names yet, though the wizard looked suspiciously like the famous neurosurgeon Stephen Strange).

_Squidward was obviously not happy with the teen following him, and he retaliated, throwing a Rocket Mortgage billboard at Spider-Man to be rid of him. Spidey made an 'oof' sound when he hit the ground, the breath knocked out of him. He took a short second before untangling himself._

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_"Not cool!" he shouted, resuming his chase._

_In front of him, Squidward bent all the utility poles with his powers in the path of the fleeing Cloak, before he finally grabbed it and sent the wizard tumbling to the ground. Spider-Man scooped him up before he hit the pavement, but before he can get away with the unconscious man, a beam of blue light started pulling the man and the boy attached upwards. Spider-Man grabbed a light pole with one hand to anchor himself, but Squidward uprooted it, sending the wizard and his unexplainably loyal piece of fabric along with the red-and-blue clad teenager up to his ship._

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_"Uhh, Mr. Stark? I'm being beamed up!"_ the teen shouted, and Rhodey snorted. 

"Was that a movie reference?"

He got no answer, the team too focused on the screen in front of them.

_They watched as the beam of light sucked him higher and higher, watching raptly as the world became smaller and smaller. Through the comms, they heard Tony's "Hang on, kid." There were a couple of crashing sounds, and something that sounded like slicing, before they heard Tony's voice again. "Wong, you're invited to my wedding." and his thrusters started up. Peter, at that point, had reached the spaceship and was clinging to the side, trying to climb up despite being battered with strong winds as they went further up into the atmosphere._

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_"Give me a little juice, F.R.I.D.A.Y." they heard Tony again, and the foot thruster noise got louder. Peter spared a glance down to Earth, and they all saw a little red and gold dot that was getting bigger, but too slow, too slow._

_"Unlock 17-A." the man's voice echoed weirdly through Peter's comms, perhaps because of the atmosphere changing. They heard a hissing sound and something that sounded like it was launching from Tony's comms, which were connected to Peter._

Tony himself was digging his fingernails into his palms. "That suit doesn't have filtered oxygen," he murmured quietly, though everyone heard him. "It doesn't have oxygen, and he's entering the upper atmosphere. He's going to run out of air."

Everyone stilled. They hadn't thought of that, maybe they'd assumed he had oxygen like in Tony's suit. They turned their now anxious eyes to the monitor, and Tony felt his stomach churning like he was on a particularly loopy rollercoaster ride. He shouldn't be this anxious for the kid he met a week ago, but he was. Maybe it was seeing how the future him interacted with Peter, but something curled up and died in his gut when he thought of Peter being hurt.

Onscreen Tony had evidently come to the same conclusion as off-screen one. _"Pete, you gotta let go. I'm gonna catch you."_

 _Pete._ The significance of that one nickname was not lost on the Avengers, and if they weren't questioning the relationship between Tony and Peter before, then they were now. It seemed more parental than mentor and protégé, though most of them had never assumed that they'd ever use the word 'parental' to describe Tony Stark before this.

_"But you said to save the wizard!" Peter insisted._

Tony groaned. "No, you absolute idiot, Peter." he dragged a hand down his face, stomach still churning because he knew that if anything happened to Peter right now, it'd be his fault because he said to _get the wizard._

His eyes tore away from the monitor for a second and ended up landing on Steve. Steve locked eyes with him, and his head nodded towards the hall where Peter had fled, reminding him that Peter was safe and alright. Tony calmed down at this, taking a breath and shooting a small, grateful glance at the man. He knew that the sick feeling in his gut wouldn't go away while they were watching this.

 _Peter started gasping from lack of oxygen, and he pulled off his mask. "I can't... breathe!"_ the last word came out more as a wheeze than an actual word, and the tension in the room became palpable.

 _"You're too high up. You're running out of air."_ onscreen Tony's voice echoed through the comms, and he sounded worried as well. Great. When _both_ versions of Tony Stark are panicking, you know it's time to panic.

 _"Yeah! That makes sense."_ the boy said, sounding out of breath. His words sounded more distant and were overlaid by the rushing of air now that he'd taken his mask off, but they could still hear him. 

_Next thing they know, Peter has assumingly passed out and is free-falling._

The Avengers all get a sickening sense of vertigo, like when you see someone in a rollercoaster drop and your own organs seem to make a leap of your own, even if it wasn't you who experienced it. The masks' lenses are dark with flashes of blue and orange peeking through in whirls of color, perhaps covered by Peter's hands. However, they could all hear the rushing of wind and some of them close their eyes, disoriented and head spinning, before something slammed into Peter's back, slowing his descent but not stopping it.

Some of them jerk forward on instinct, confused as to why Peter didn't stop. The masks' eyes went dark, shutting off and stopping the film, and people froze. Tony could see Natasha furrowing her brows as she deciphered what was happening, but it turned out she didn't need to because the film resumed barely 5 seconds after. The lenses opened and they could see again, but things looked a bit different, almost as if it was a different suit this time.

_"Iron Spider suit online." Karen's voice announced softly, schematics flashing across their vision. "Welcome, Peter."_

"I was wondering how he got the Iron suit when he attached to the spaceship in the red and blue one." Sam Wilson commented as Peter greeted his AI, and Tony shot him a side-eye.

_Now that Peter was in a suit that was feeding him oxygen, he was up and standing again. "Mr. Stark, it smells like a new car in here!" he exclaimed._

A few chuckles were heard, and the worried knot in Tony's stomach eased in the slightest.

_On-screen Tony was taking no chances with the kid, though, despite him having the Iron Spider suit. "Happy trails, kid. F.R.I.D.A.Y, send him home."_

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_"Yep." the AI responded, and Peter barely had a chance to respond before a parachute extended from the back of the new suit, snatching Spider-Man from the ship's hull and sending him spiraling back to Earth._

_"OH, COME ON!" They all heard Peter's exasperated yell. As Tony flew up to a different part of the ship, starting to cut a laser door to let him inside, Peter attached a web to the outside of the ship, allowing only the parachute to fall back to earth._

Tony, along with most of the Avengers, sighed at the kid's stubbornness, though they held a grudging respect for him as well. The only one who hadn't said anything yet was Barnes, Cap's friend who had supposedly not blown up the UN but they really had no proof except for Cap's word. Which Tony still wasn't sure he entirely trusted, but they had bigger fish to fry as of right now other than dealing with Captain America's emo friend.

T'Challa had been with them on Team Iron Man originally, and he'd been looking for Barnes as revenge for blowing up the UN and killing his father. He'd gone back to his kingdom to deal with the falling out of his father's death, allowing Barnes to leave because of the kid popping in randomly and explaining everything in his freak out. But he'd sworn that if the kid was lying and this was all just a trick to save Barnes, they'd have hell to pay. Tony had sent T'Challa the videos to watch as soon as he accessed Karen so the king could know what they're up against. 

Apart from that, everyone who was at the airport battle was here: Team Iron Man, which consisted of himself, Peter, Natasha, Vision, and Rhodey (and T'Challa). And Team Cap, who had Cap, Barnes, Wilson, Clint, Wanda, and a guy who'd been dressed in some weird suit and said his name was Scott Lang.

Tony had contacted Fury, but hadn't gotten a response yet; the man only responded on his own terms, the bastard. Tony was sure he'd gotten it but less sure on whether he'd bother to watch it based on the words of a 14-year-old kid. He was still sulking in his secret SHIELD base about his little team having a fight without him; apparently, he had 'dad rights' for making the Avengers a team in the first place or something like that. Not in those words, but that's what Tony was calling it. Fury was too smug to admit that he was like a dad, giving disappointed looks at them for quarreling among themselves.

No one stopped the video, though, so Tony tore himself away from his thoughts to focus on the holo-screen once again.

_Peter climbed, hand over hand, back up his web and managed to clamber inside a slowly-closing chamber._

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_"Oh my God!" Peter gasped out, looking at the rapidly-receding planet behind him. "I should have stayed on the bus..."_

"Damn right, you should've!" Tony said. "And now you're on that spaceship, right where I _obviously didn't want you to be_." he dissolved into muttering, missing the Avengers glancing among one another. "Stubborn kid."

"Takes after you," Natasha said, and Tony startled back for a moment, too caught up in lecturing the kid who wasn't even there to realize the Avengers were paying attention to him.

"Not exactly a good thing," he muttered.

"What, you don't want him to become a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist?" Clint mocked playfully, grinning slightly as he called back Tony's words on the helicarrier all those years ago. Tony shot him half a glare with no heat behind it.

"He's already a genius, he doesn't need to be a billionaire though I'm sure he could be successful enough, I could never think in a million years he'd ever be a playboy, and he's already a philanthropist," Tony said. "Takes after my good qualities, doesn't have my bad qualities."

"No Merchant of Death for him, then." someone murmured and Tony sighed. He was pretty sure it was Wanda who'd said it, and though he was expecting it, it still bit harshly every single time. But no one knew about the truth behind Obie's death, and they didn't know it was actually him double-dealing, not Tony. And after all these years of lies, he was almost certain no one would believe him if the truth _did_ come out. Peter would, though. And Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy already knew, along with some of SHIELD. But no one else. And some days the lies hurt so much he just wanted to scream in the person's face that he'd been fooled just as much as them. He never did.

The room fell into silence after that, all of them opting to watch the holo-screen instead of addressing the elephant in the room.

_Squidward was interrogating the wizard, who was awake by now and suspended in midair, surrounded by dozens of glass needle things. They started piercing his skin when he refused to give up the stone, and everyone winced at his pain-filled shouts. The view was upside down, though, meaning that Peter was probably hiding in a corner on the ceiling somewhere. While Squidward continued his evil villain speech, Peter turned his attention to Mr. Stark, who was talking with the floating cape, making jabs about it being a loyal piece of outerwear or something like that._

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_Taking his chance, Peter jumped down._

_"Yeah, uh, speaking of loyalty..." he said nervously as Tony and the Cloak whipped around._

Scott snickered a bit at the look on Tony's face. "Shit's about to go doooooown."

The Avengers watched in mild amusement as Tony lectured Peter and Peter made excuses.

_"And I kinda stuck to the side of the ship. And this suit is ridiculously intuitive, by the way. So if anything, it's kinda your fault that I'm here."_

The snickering stopped and everyone fell dead silent. Onscreen Tony froze as well.

_"What did you just say?" Tony asked, having a very serious face and the ultimate disapproval eyebrows._

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_"I... take that back," Peter said, realizing he messed up, big-time. "And now I'm here in space."_

_"Yeah." Tony said in his 'no, shit' voice, coming to stand near the boy. "Right where I didn't want you to be. This isn't Coney Island. This isn't a field trip. It's a one-way ticket. Do you hear me? Don't pretend like you thought this through. You could not have possibly thought this through."_

"Like you ever think things through," Rhodey said, and Tony shot him a look.

_"No. I did think this through."_

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_"You could not have possibly thought this through."_

_"It's just- You can't be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man when there's no neighborhood." He paused and waited for Iron Man's reaction. "Okay. That didn't really make any sense, but you know what I'm trying to say."_

"You can't be a _friendly neighborhood Spider-Man_ if there's no _SPIDER-MAN_!" Tony exclaimed in frustration. When onscreen Tony didn't say the same thing, he glared at himself. "Future me, I am very disappointed in you for letting him stay on board."

Rhodey leaned over to Clint and Scott. "The lectures have reached an all-new level. When do you think the time outs will start?"

Scott was staring at Tony, who was still grumbling about irresponsible kids. "It's happening. He's evolving into the ultimate dad."

Rhodey and Clint snorted simultaneously. 

"Don't let him hear you say that, he freaks out at the 'd' word," Clint said.

"Whether he freaks out or not, he could certainly be one," Scott said, and in that moment, Rhodey couldn't agree more.

Natasha's forehead had been furrowed and she reached out to pause the video before it could continue. "Wait. What did Tony mean when he said 'this isn't Coney Island.' I noticed the kid's face change a bit when he said that. It was obviously something important."

She looked around at everyone, but they didn't know. She then called to the AI.

"Can you tell us what happened with Coney Island?"

Karen, Tony remembered her name was, was silent for a moment. "I don't have footage from the event, as Peter was not wearing his suit at the time, however, I do have a summary based off of what Peter has talked to me about."

Now Tony was frowning. "What do you mean he didn't have the suit, why wouldn't he have the suit?"

Hesitation from the AI again. "You took it away, Mr. Stark."

"I what?" Tony asked.

"Its... a long story that we really don't have time for and Peter can tell you about later if he wishes to, but you took the suit away after an argument involving a ferry accident, telling Peter 'if you're nothing without the suit, then you shouldn't have it.' The ferry was split in half by the Vulture, Adrian Toomes, using weapons while Peter was trying to fight them. You took the suit away in hopes of- at least from what I've gathered- in hopes of forcing Peter to settle down and have a more normal life rather than skipping activities to be Spider-Man. Peter listened to your advice for a while, he really tried, and he asked his crush out to homecoming. However, when he went to pick her up, he learned her dad was the Vulture and that he was going to rob the Stark plane moving everything to the Avengers compound upstate."

"Wait, what, why?" Clint broke in. "Why were we moving?"

"In case you forgot, Mr. Barton, you all were about to fight in Leipzig before Peter dropped in. If he hadn't, Team Cap would be on the run right now, among other consequences." Before anyone could question her further, she plowed on. "As I was saying, Toomes was planning to raid the Stark plane to build and sell more illegal weapons, and while he was driving Peter and Liz- his daughter and Peter's date- he discovered Peter was Spider-Man. He threatened to kill Peter and everyone he loved if Spider-Man didn't stay out of his business, but Peter changed into his old suit, fought one of Toomes' goons, and tracked him down into an old warehouse. They had a little 'chat' - what of, Peter never told me - that was actually a distraction for Toomes to get his wingsuit operational and knock down the walls of the warehouse, trapping Peter underneath tons of concrete in his homemade suit."

Everyone was silent, eyes blinking rapidly, and Tony felt like he'd been dropped off the deep end into a pool of information, floundering and looking for something to grab onto.

"That's-" Scott cut himself off by shuddering. Wanda was sitting in her chair rigidly, eyes closed, and Tony wondered, guiltily, if she was reimagining her and her brother stuck under the building.

"But... how'd he get out, then? And you still haven't mentioned Coney Island." Cap said, sounding a bit lost. Perhaps he felt like he'd been thrown into the deep end as well.

Tony closed his eyes, begging that there was nothing else to this story, that Peter was rescued and went home as safely as he could. But a part of him also knew, based on what he's seen of the boy, that there was no way he would give up and let Toomes get away. At the same time, guilt hit Tony again like a bag of bricks, because so far, from everything he's heard, all of Peter's actions leading up to this were spurred by Tony's own words and decisions. He sighed and resigned to Karen continuing.

"That's the rest of the story, Captain," she said softly. "Peter said he lifted the warehouse off of him and hitched a flight on Toomes' wings, fighting him on the outside of the jet. I'm assuming they must've hit some of the engines while fighting because the plane started to crash; Peter had to steer it so it'd crash on Coney Island's beach instead of the middle of the city."

God, that self-sacrificing idiot. Tony could barely imagine that _Peter_ , the same Peter currently in a room upstairs, had gone through all of this. Yet at the same time, he understood. He understood the need to save people so well that his chest tightened and his eyes blurred, and for a split second he was flying through the wormhole, saving New York all over again.

"He fought Toomes some more on the beach until Toomes' wingsuit exploded and Peter dragged him out of the fire and tied him up for Happy to deal with."

Despite the bomb of information currently exploding in their midst, a couple of people let out a chuckle. Tony gave half a smile at the 'dump it on Happy' part. At least the man had dealt with Tony's bullshit enough to know what to do. However, as soon as the smile had appeared, it disappeared and Tony winced at the headache he was getting from this whole ordeal.

He didn't let the emotions show on his face, though, dropping a well-worn mask over his features instead - a figurative mask, of course. He glanced at Nat, who seemed to be doing the same. She was processing it and analyzing every bit of the story, Tony could tell. He was sure that if he went into her mind, it'd be a bunch of file cabinets with everyone's life story in chronological order, surrounded by a bunch of barbed wire fences.

Nat gave a nod in the direction of the holo-screen, where Karen's voice had been speaking from. "That could be useful information in the future." she acknowledged, and Tony recognized it as her way of saying thank you. To her, knowledge was money, and most importantly, power.

"I didn't give it to you for your benefit," Karen said softly. "I did it for Peter because I know damn well he doesn't want to talk about it, not to mention he probably wouldn't be able to get through the whole story. I'm like his... therapist of sorts- we agreed that he didn't have to tell anyone else as long as he talked to me, and I wouldn't tell anyone unless it was life or death. I haven't even gotten the full story, and it's been months upon months where he'll let go a tiny puzzle piece of information and I have to try and fit it into the bigger picture," she said.

At that moment, Tony Stark almost regretted giving his AI's the ability to feel emotions and be sentient, because the pain in her voice was really not something he needed to be dealing with right now on top of everything else. He sighed and realized he'd been doing a lot of that lately.

Couldn't the end of half the universe wait till he'd had a nap?

Though not even a nap seemed like it could perish the weariness that was rooted in his bones.

Screw that, he needed a week-long nap. Actually, a hibernation would be more fitting.

He then snapped back to his senses, realizing that no one else was going to restart the video that showed the ending of half the universe, and there was really no point sitting here wallowing in something that happened to the kid long ago and didn't even happen yet at this point in time. He clapped twice, getting their attention.

"Hey- come on, none of that will be happening here anyways because Peter stopped our Civil War, right? He stopped us from fighting so we're not moving from Avengers Tower. It won't happen, so stop wallowing in the sadness of it and get back to watching this. That's not what he came back to prevent, anyways." Tony said, trying to get them to understand. He got some less-than-pleased looks at his 'wallowing in sadness' choice of words, but hey, it got his point across. He then whispered to Karen to restart the video, and she obliged, restarting where it left off.

Peter had just said that he can't be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man if there's no neighborhood, and onscreen Tony seemed to realize at this moment that there was nothing he could do anymore, other than try and protect the kid and hope for the best.

The team continued to watch raptly until Peter said "Have you ever seen this really old movie, Aliens?" and Rhodey snorted.

"He's been referencing movies. Really?"

No one answered him, yet again, though he knew they all heard.

Tony was distracting Squidward while Peter crawled over to his position, ready to fulfill his part of the plan.

_They heard as Tony said, "Yeah, but the kid's seen more movies." Then he fired a rocket from his shoulder, which pierced the side of the ship and sucked everything out with depressurization, especially Maw and his large objects. The wizard- Tony could see now that it is definitely Stephen Strange- was pulled loose of the needles but was also headed for the hole in the side of the spaceship, not able to do anything. The Cloak tried to save him by wrapping itself around his arm and another anchor point, but Strange's arm slipped free and he started to slide into space. Spider-Man, however, showed up right then, and he shot a web strand at Strange with one hand as he held onto a piece of the ship with the other. It broke and sent them both towards space when his Iron-Spider suit's extra metal legs braced him to keep him from being sucked out._

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_"Yes! Wait what are those?!" Peter exclaimed._

"The only things keeping you alive," Tony said, a bit bitter that he hadn't been the one to catch Peter. He kept feeling like he was letting the kid down, and he had a feeling that wouldn't stop anytime soon.

_Peter crouched with his new spider-legs and he used them to propel him and Strange forward, pulling both of them back inside. Tony quickly sprayed nanites onto the hole to plug it up. Strange, saved because of Peter, dropped to the floor. Squidward is gone and dead._

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_Peter then tried to talk to the cloak but is ignored while Tony and Strange start an argument._

_"We've gotta turn this ship around," Strange said, and video-Peter is looking at them now._

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_"Yeah. Now he wants to run. Great plan." Tony retorted._

_"No, I want to protect the stone." Strange clarified, but is ignored as Tony walked away and looked at the front viewing window._

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_"And I want you to thank me now. Go ahead, I'm listening." Tony said, irritation lacing his voice._

_"For what? Nearly blasting me into space?" Strange said, bristling a bit._

Natasha snorted. "I believe you've finally found your ego soulmate. Go on, hash it out, maybe do a fistfight. You'll probably end up killing each other." Her voice lilted with faint amusement in a way that was entirely and uniquely hers.

"Natashalie, you have no faith in my skills." 

She simply rolled her eyes, completely done dealing with his bullshit. She didn't know how Pepper dealt with it.

_"Who just saved your magical ass? Me."_

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_"I seriously don't know how you fit your head into that helmet," Strange said._

Rhodey chuckled. "I've asked myself that for years."

"Your best friend privileges are revoked, honeybear. I'm taking my suit back." Tony said dryly. 

Rhodey merely smiled before Vision cut in.

"I believe we are getting off track, Mr. Stark and Mr. Rhodes. The point of watching this is to stop Thanos, right?" he asked. Tony sighed. He really didn't want to be reminded, which is why he was trying so hard right now to make it humorous while he could. What could he say, humor was his coping mechanism.

_"Admit it. You should have ducked out when I told you to. I tried to bench you. You refused." Tony insisted._

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_"Unlike everyone else in your life, I don't work for you." Strange countered cooly._

"The Avengers don't work for me." Tony murmured. Said team had no response.

_"And due to that fact, we're now in a flying doughnut billions of miles away from Earth with no backup."_

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_Peter somehow thought this was the best time to cut in, and he raised his hand. "I'm backup."_

They all knew it was a mistake when the duo whipped towards Peter. _Tony spoke. "No. You're a stowaway. The adults are talking."_

_Dr. Strange's forehead furrowed when he saw Peter. "I'm sorry, I'm confused as to the relationship here." He gestured between Tony and Peter. "Wh-what is he, your ward?"_

Most of the Avengers coughed in the I'm-trying-to-avoid-answering-that-way. 

"He's not exactly wrong..." Wanda murmured to herself, looking at the duo on the holographic screen.

_Peter was quick to intervene, though. "No," he said, a bit too quickly. Tony said nothing. "I'm Peter, by the way."_

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_"Doctor Strange."_

"Knew it," Tony said.

_"Oh, we're using our made-up names. Um... I'm Spider-Man, then."_

Many more snorts of laughter were heard this time.

They quieted down again, though, when Strange and Tony started arguing again. Tony wanted to stay out in space, take the fight to Thanos. Strange didn't. Finally, Tony snapped and stalked over to Strange.

 _"No. It's you who doesn't_ understand, _that Thanos has been inside my head for six years since he sent an army to New York and now he's back! And I don't know what to do. So I'm not so sure if it's a better plan to fight him on our turf or his but you saw what they did, what they can do. At least on his turf, he's not expecting it. So I say we take the fight to him. Doctor. Do you concur?"_

The Avengers sat in stupified silence, eyes turning to their Tony Stark, who looked just as shocked, but for a different reason. They were shocked because he'd said nothing for 6 years; Tony was shocked because he finally knew who was behind it all.

"Why didn't you say something, Tony?" Cap asked quietly. Tony gave him a dry look, but his eyes had an underlying emotion that Steve couldn't decipher.

"Oh, yes, like anyone would believe the great, egotistical Tony Stark would get nightmares."

No one answered.

Dr. Strange paused, taking in Tony's suggestion, and everyone held their breath, deciding to talk about Tony's nightmares later. _"Alright, Stark. We go to him. But you have to understand... if it comes to saving you or the kid or the Time Stone... I will not hesitate to let either of you die. I can't, because the fate of the universe depends on it."_

The tension in the room only grew heavier.

_Tony, being, well, Tony, used humor to deflect the heavy statement. "Nice. Good. Moral compass. We're straight."_

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_He then stepped over to Peter. He paused in front of him and surveyed his face for a second. He then tapped his hand on each shoulder, knighting him. "Alright, kid. You're an Avenger now." He didn't look at him as he said those words, knowing full well what he signed him up for._

The Avengers all sat in a suffocating silence and watched as the figures on the screen realized that the ship already had a destination punched into its databases, heading for a planet called Titan- where Thanos would supposedly be. As they approached the planet using hyperspeed (as it was light-years away) they argued about where to land it.

Video-Tony figured out that it was about to crash, and he stuck his hand into one of the steering handholds as he gestured for Peter to do the same. They were too widely spaced apart for one normal-sized person to control; they were probably meant for Thanos to use. Tony and Peter attempted to steer the ship so it wouldn't crash, half-successful, and Strange protected them from falling debris with some weird orange glowy shields.

_Strange helped Tony to his feet, and they both shared a look that acknowledged each others' help._

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_"You alright?" Tony asked Strange. "That was close. I owe you one." he panted a bit, still shaken up over their crash landing._ The screen is upside down again, Spidey having descended from a web attached to the ceiling,

_"Let me just say, if aliens wind up implanting eggs in my chest or something, and I end up eating you, I'm sorry," Peter said, and all the Avengers can see people gathered in the corner of the screen. Tony and Strange obviously didn't see that, though._

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_Tony pointed at his protege. "I don't wanna hear another single pop culture out of you for the rest of the trip. You understand?"_

_"I'm trying to say that... something is coming."_

All the Avengers jumped when the grenade rolled into video-Peter's general vicinity, even though they'd been expecting it. _While the team of what appeared to be aliens fought the trio, chaos ensued._

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_Peter was backing away from a female alien dressed in green when he heard a shout from a red and blue alien who was in a struggle with the Cloak._

_"Die, blanket of death!"_

Some of the Avengers started laughing quietly.

The fight on screen comes to a standstill and one of the people- who looks like a human- starts asking about a Gamora.

The red and blue alien proves to not be the brightest in the room and is a constant source for quiet chuckles.

However, they're all in for a surprise when the human said he's from Missouri and that he's met Thor. The original Avengers- bar Bruce and Thor- shared looks. They hadn't seen Thor since Ultron, and given onscreen Tony's reaction, he hadn't either.

_"You know Thor?" Tony asked._

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_"Yeah. Tall guy, not that good-looking, needed saving."_ at this, Peter twisted his head around so he was looking right at Peter Quill (along with the holo screen since they're seeing it through his eyes), and they can only imagine Peter's face when he said that.

_They all trail off the spaceship after they talked about Thor for a bit, and Peter explored the red, dusty planet while sticking close to Tony. They'd all introduced themselves as well. Peter had retracted his mask so they weren't watching out of the lenses anymore, but out of Peter's spider emblem, which Tony had placed a camera in for emergencies._

Then the argument- mostly between Quill and Tony- started, and by the end, the Avengers were all in various degrees of laughter. From Clint and Scott and Rhodey, who were losing it, to Natasha and Vision, who had wan smiles on their faces, it was a much-needed humor break.

_Somewhere in the argument's timeframe, Strange had wandered off. Mantis noticed him first. He was sitting cross-legged, hovering slightly above the ground, and his head was flicking so rapidly side to side that it was blurring._

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_Tony called out to him, and he snapped out of his trance, falling forward, and Tony caught him._

_"You're back. You're alright." Tony reassured him._

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_"Hey, what was that?" Peter asked, a disguised tremor in his younger voice._

_Dr. Strange was panting like he'd just run a mile. "I went forward in time to view... alternate futures. To see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict."_

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_"How many did you see?" Quill asked._

_Strange squinted upwards like you do when you try and remember something. "14,000,605."_

The room was quiet again as the Avengers digested this.

_Tony asked for the answer they all wanted but didn't want to ask for. "How many did we win?"_

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_Strange stared intently at Tony for a moment, hesitating, something unreadable (guilt?) in his eyes. "One."_

"Shit," Tony said. "Shit, shit, shit." he paused. "Shit."

No one even bothered to bring up their old 'language' joke, which was a giant, waving red flag that they were all troubled.

They all watched as Tony and Quill formulated a plan, setting it in action just as another ship arrived. And then... he was there.

Only Dr. Strange was visible; Spidey was hiding behind him, peeking over a rock. They all saw Strange's back and Thanos' front. 

_Dr. Strange greeted him. "Oh, yeah, you're much more of a 'Thanos'."_

All the Avengers watched from Peter's eyes as their conversation continued. Thanos was talking about his retirement plan now. Though now that Peter was hiding by himself, his breathing had picked up and they could tell he was on the verge of a panic attack. Tony swallowed and tightened his jaw, hearing the all too familiar sound of rasping breaths echoing through the speakers. 

"Get it together, Peter." the boy murmured to himself, and they all heard the anger in his voice, directed at himself. Tony wanted to reach out, tell him he had every right to be afraid, because all Tony was doing was _watching_ and he was terrified. However, his fear of failing Peter kept him rigidly still, and he didn't move a muscle towards the screen, despite how much his mind was screaming at him to. He kept reminding himself that he couldn't do anything- not that that would do anything to assuage the guilt gnawing at his insides once again. Tony's fears were relieved in the tiniest bit when Peter took a deep breath and let it out, pushing the fear away. However, he'd done that enough to know that pushing the emotions away was just going to come back later and bite harder.

Luckily- or unluckily, Tony was still undecided- Peter didn't have to sit and wallow in his thoughts anymore, because just as planned, video-Tony flew in, propelling a large chunk of wreckage at the Titan and slowing him down for a couple of seconds.

Then the shit hit the fan.

_The wreckage on top of Thanos erupted in purple and he yelled in rage. He turned the hovering fragments into a flock of bats with the Reality Stone and swarmed Tony with them; the man is forced back._

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_Spider-Man webbed his eyes, and swung in to kick him in the face at the same time that Drax leaped from cover, blades in both hands. He tried a knee slice but it didn't work._

_Strange jumped through a portal and summoned a sword of golden energy; he dueled with Thanos while Drax attacked on his other side._

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_The battle continued with each member doing their part._

_The Cloak eventually swooped off Strange's shoulders and wrapped itself tightly around Thanos's armored hand; he started tugging at the wrapping. Strange started throwing portals everywhere, allowing Peter to jump in at Thanos' left._

The Avengers are faced with the feeling of falling again, whirls of yellow sparks and red earth flashing as they experienced the sickening vertigo of Peter jumping through various portals.

_Peter seemed to be enjoying it, though._

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_"Magic!" He punched Thanos in the head and vanished through a portal to the lower right before he reappeared above Thanos. "More magic!" He yanked Thanos's head down hard, then leaped into a portal in front of him. He leaped through another portal high and behind Thanos. "Magic with a kick!" He shouted while he delivered a flying kick and fell feet-first into an exit, then appeared on his right. "Magic with a-" Before he can finish, Thanos turned, grabbing him from the air, and threw him to the ground with his hand around his neck._

_"Insect!"_

The Avengers all flinch at the sight of the giant purple Titan's sneering face looking directly at them, a huge hand around their necks. Tony felt sickened as he thought of how easily Thanos could've squeezed right then, snapping Peter's neck. Natasha's hands instinctively go up to her throat as if she's reliving some experience she had in the Red Room.

_He then threw him at Strange, knocking them both down._

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_Peter groaned from his prone position on the ground, getting three words out. "Spiders are arachnids."_

Peter is facing the ground, while he tried to push himself up; all they see is red dirt, but they can still hear. They heard huge explosions and Peter looked to his side in time to see Thanos suck all the power from the blasts into the gauntlet with the Power Stone and then he fired it in a stream at Iron Man, hitting him dead on and sending him far away.

_At seeing his mentor down, Spider-Man leaped from behind, warier this time, and while Thanos concentrated his fire on Iron Man, he webbed the gauntlet and dropped down in front of him, pulling hard. However, Thanos yanked on the webline, pulling the much lighter teenager towards him, and he punched him on his way past. He tore the webbing free of the gauntlet just in time for a small spaceship to attempt to crash-land on him._

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_Peter stopped paying attention to the fight for a couple of minutes, groaning and holding his ribs while he tried to get up. They heard sounds of fighting in the background, and Peter looked up again as Thanos punched the blue alien who'd crashed her spaceship into him. Strange then tried to use some magic ropes or something to get the gauntlet off, and Drax kicked Thanos' knee to knock him off balance. Thanos tried to reach over, but Star-Lord shot an electric trap on Thanos's right hand, holding it down._

_Peter had gotten up by now, and he swung in and webbed Thanos's chest before he wrapped it around behind him. He dug his Iron Spider legs into the ground to anchor himself._

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_Strange opened a portal straight above Thanos's head. Mantis dropped out of it and landed on the Titan's shoulders, her hands on his temples. He yelled as she tried to put him to sleep._

_Tony's returned, and over all the noise they hear Peter's small sigh of relief at seeing his mentor._

Tony swallowed as he heard it, and knows the others did too, glancing over at him, but they don't mention it.

_Tony pulled on the gauntlet. Strange held the magic ropes, and the Cloak helps Tony yank at the Gauntlet. Thanos is finally subdued enough to incapacitation, but he's not fully asleep._

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_At Tony's commmand to help, Peter dropped his webline and hurried to help Tony with the gauntlet, while he listened to the conversation with half an ear._

_Quill asked Thanos about Gamora, his girlfriend. It's wasn't going well; Thanos was saying some 'my Gamora' shit and Quill's getting angrier. The blue alien realized what's happened first._

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_"He took her to Vormir. He came back with the Soul Stone... but she didn't."_

The Avengers exchanged glances, knowing what's about to happen based on Quill's expression. Tony's eyes are firmly glued to his future self, hoping, hoping he'll get the man under control. Because out of everyone in this room, he's the only one there on Titan with Peter. He doesn't know where the others are, but he knows he'll feel guilty if he fails.

_Onscreen Tony grasped the danger immediately and dehelmeted. "Okay, Quill, you gotta cool it right now, you understand?"_

Steve drew in a shuddering breath before he released it. He recognized the expression on Quill's face- it reminded him too much of himself when he woke up and realized all his friends were dead. And Peggy...

But Tony was there. And if anyone could use their words to talk someone else out of something, it was Tony.

 _Quill slowly turned to Thanos while Tony shouted desperately at him, trying to reason. "Don't, don't, don't engage,_ we've almost got this off!"

_"Tell me she's lying. ASSHOLE! Tell me you didn't do it!"_

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_"I... had... to."_

Steve blanched, knowing exactly where this was headed. he wished he didn't, but he wasn't naive. The Avengers held their breath. Clint recognized the look on Quill's face- the look of an enraged, cornered, trapped animal. 

_Quill started to tear up quietly. "No, you didn't...! No, you didn't...!" He continued to rage and then he pistol-whipped Thanos twice in the face; this caused Mantis to let go in pain._ **"NO, YOU DIDN'T!!!"**

Wanda wanted to look away, but she couldn't. She remembered this is exactly how she wanted to treat Stark when she first saw him, as revenge, revenge for killing her parents.

_Tony shouted. "Quill!" Tony leaped for Star-Lord's arm, rehelmeting and leaving Spider-Man to pull off the gauntlet._

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_"Hey, stop! Hey, stop! Stop! Hey, stop! Stop!"_ Tony begged the man, and the Avengers recoiled at the desperation in his voice. It was an emotion they didn't ever compare with him.

_"It's coming! It's coming! It's coming!" Peter yelped, and they were all looking at the gauntlet, praying, praying as Peter got the fingers completely loose. "I got it! I got it...!"_

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_But just as it was about to slide off into his hands, Thanos woke completely, now well and truly furious._

Someone in the room screeched in utter frustration. "NO!"

No one bothered to look at who it was; they were all thinking it anyways.

Plan foiled, the scene unfolding on the screen dissolved into chaos. _Thanos head-butted Mantis before he grabbed the cuff of the gauntlet and threw Mantis off his shoulders._

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_"Oh, God," Peter said, before he jumped and wrapped his arms and legs around her, extending his spider legs to form a roll cage for a safe landing. They rolled, and she's unconscious, but Peter placed her gently on the ground. He looked up just as rocks start to fall from the sky._

No, not fall, they all realized with mounting horror. _Thanos was dragging an entire moon with his gauntlet, and the rocks were from the surface. Peter looked to where it was being aimed, only to let out a choked half scream as he saw it was being aimed at Tony._

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_"Mr. Stark!" he screamed as Tony was crushed under the moon._ No one had time to dwell on the pain in his scream, though, because the moon slamming into the planet caused everything to catapult upwards, including the unconscious bodies of the Guardians.

_The unconscious Guardians were flying upwards uncontrollably, moon-chunks are still making fiery ballistic inbounds, and random debris and massive rocks were floating in any possible direction. Spider-Man was well-equipped to handle this physically, even if he's freaking out emotionally._

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_He started swinging around, grabbing the people with his webs and attaching them to big pieces of debris. "I got you! I got you! I'm sorry I can't remember anybody's names!" he panted out._

Tony gave a small snort at how the kid's manners always seem to jump out in life-threatening situations.

In the distance, they all see Doctor Strange facing off against Thanos, but Peter has no time to watch, as he's still rescuing people.

_When he looked back up, there's suddenly hundreds of Strange-s hovering in the air, all holding onto Thanos with their own magical ropes. Before Peter-and the Avengers watching- can wonder if they've lost it from all this, Thanos did something with the gauntlet. All the forms of Strange disappeared, save for one._

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_Right, illusions._

_Peter grabbed the last person and webbed them to a piece of debris before he landed atop one of them himself. He saw Thanos throw Strange, whose head hits a rock and he passes out._

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_Peter was about to go fight Thanos himself- the Avengers can tell by the way he suddenly starts forward, but Tony reached him first._

Tony has never been more relieved to see himself.

The Avengers have never been more relieved to see Tony.

_A red and gold device slapped into the palm of the Infinity Gauntlet- it braced the fingers open, and a red and gold Avenger made a fast and hard entrance._

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_"You throw another moon at me, and I'm gonna lose it." they can just barely hear his voice, given the distance between Peter and Tony, but the irritation in it is palpable._

_"Stark," Thanos said, making onscreen Peter, along with everyone in the room, freeze._

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_Onscreen Tony doesn't freeze, but he stiffened. "You know me?"_

_"I do. You're not the only one cursed with knowledge."_

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_Tony didn't seem to know what to do with this information, so he opted to throw an insult. "My only curse is you." At the same time, small rockets popped out of Iron Man's back and launched at Thanos._

_Peter's head whipped between Strange and his mentor, obviously wanting to both help Tony and go see if Strange is alright._

"C' mon kid, I'm alright," Tony muttered under his breath. "I've got it handled, go take care of the wizard and stay out of danger for once in your goddamn life."

"I agree with that," Scott said, and Tony blinked, not realizing he'd said that out loud.

Peter, bless his soul, did exactly that, though he kept an eye on his mentor as he made a wide half-circle to where Strange was knocked out.

They all had a clear view of the battle going on between Thanos and onscreen Tony, and even Tony himself looked surprised at the sheer talent and cunning skill required to pull this off. Thanos had removed the brace preventing him from using the gauntlet, and he'd just fired a stream of pure purple power at Tony, who slid back from the force of it. 

They saw Peter stop and reach a gloved hand out to his mentor, wanting to help, but Tony obviously had it under control, kicking the Titan in the face as he hurried the last few steps to where Dr. Strange was crumpled. He picked him up and had an armful of unconscious Dr. Strange when he heard "All that for a drop of blood" and he turned around.

They all know very well that if Peter weren't holding Strange right now, he'd have dashed into battle, because the tides had changed, and now it was Thanos beating up Tony.

Everyone watched in utter shock as Tony was now on the defensive, armor failing and getting hit over and over by the Titan.

_Peter stood there in silence, seemingly unable to move, when he came to his senses and dropped Strange- gently, mind you- before whipping back around._

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_Yet at that exact moment, Tony attempted to stab Thanos, who grabbed the dagger, broke it off, and stabbed it through Tony's left side._

_Peter froze and let out a choked cry as Thanos walked Iron Man back until he sat and placed the gauntlet almost comfortingly on Tony's head._

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_"You have my respect, Stark. When I'm done, half of humanity will still be alive." He let go, straightened, and stepped back. "I hope they remember you."_

_Tony gasped, blood dripping out of his mouth, and Thanos raised the gauntlet, closing his fist, all four Stones glowing._

The Avengers' minds go blank, mouths gape open in shock.

Rhodey's jaw clenched and he could feel tears gathering in the corners of his eyes, though he promised that he wouldn't let them fall. He'd promised that a long time ago, because Tony didn't like seeing him cry over him. This was it. Tony had been cheating death impossibly all these years. This is the moment Rhodey would have to watch his best friend since college die.

He, and all the Avengers, are almost grateful that Peter squeezes his eyes shut, making the screen go black. They didn't want to see this. They didn't want to hear it, either, but they knew that if Peter hadn't closed his eyes, they probably would have.

Wanda had thought, for the longest time, that she wanted Stark to die for his actions. Watching, now, though, she realized he didn't deserve the hate she'd projected on him for so long. She _didn't want him to die_ , and that thought came as a shock to her.

Tony was watching with detachment, an odd expression on his face. He knew he'd have to die one day, but he hadn't expected to be _watching_ his death on a screen. When you're about to die, your life is supposed to be flashing before your eyes. He's not doing that, he's just... watching, detached from all emotion. Floating in a void where no one can ever pull him out. How are you supposed to act when you watch your death?

Turns out he didn't have to find out.

_"Stop!" A familiar voice sounded, loud and clear. Peter's eyes flew open, blinking in surprise. He spun around to find that Strange had sat up and was staring wearily at Thanos. "Spare his life... and I will give you the stone."_

The Avengers glanced at each other, wondering if this was a trick; Strange had said himself that he'd let Tony die if it came to him or the stone.

_Thanos thought so too. "No tricks."_

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_Strange shook his head as Thanos pointed all four Stones at him instead._

_Onscreen Tony is protesting, pleading, but he couldn't get the words out because he had no breath._

The Avengers looked at the man on the screen, the one they thought they knew, telling Strange to _let him die_ and keep the stone.

Natasha looked away, her report from years ago haunting her head. _Avengers Initiative. Iron Man yes. Tony Stark no. Textbook narcissism._ The words were looping, and all she could do was stare at the man- Tony Stark, not Iron Man- who was willing to give up his life to let them keep their advantage.

_Avengers Initiative. Iron Man yes. Tony Stark no. Textbook narcissism._

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_Tony's eyes were pleading at Strange as he held up the stone and gave it to Thanos._

_Avengers Initiative. Iron Man yes. Tony Stark no. Textbook narcissism._

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_Avengers Initiative. Iron Man yes. Tony Stark no. Textbook narcissism._

_Avengers Initiative. Iron Man yes. Tony Stark no. Textbook narcissism._

Natasha edited her previous evaluation.

_Avengers Initiative. Iron Man yes. Tony Stark yes. Self-sacrificing dumbass disease. It's incurable._

~ ~ ~

_They were all broken from their thoughts when Quill- now awake- screamed in incoherent rage, helmet up, firing with both hands and flying straight for Thanos. Thanos didn't even bother responding to the assault - he just left. Star-Lord flew through where Thanos had been and crashed, rolling several times._

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_"Where is he?!"_

_Tony can't speak, still catching his breath. He sprayed nanites on his wound to seal it, and he looked utterly crushed._

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_"Did we just lose?" Quill asked, face contorted into an expression of fear._

_Tony turned to Strange, and sadly asked. "Why would you do that?"_

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_Strange looked a little worse for wear, but he didn't have the same devastated look that Tony or Quill did. "We're in the Endgame now," he said quietly, firmly._

_This seemed to break Peter out of his never-ending trance, and he dashed to Mr. Stark, helping him up carefully as to not irritate his stab wound._

They could see video-Tony offer Peter the smallest of smiles, saying thank you and a whole lot more.

Tony felt his own heart (one he was sure had shriveled up and died long before this) twisting in his ribcage. While others may not be able to see the emotion behind the future version of him's eyes, he could. And while some may assume that smile to be a symbol of 'I'm okay', it was so much more.

Tony smiled faintly, almost forgetting they'd just lost. So did the Avengers, based on their facial expressions similar to his own.

At least until Mantis spoke, striking fear into their hearts with her words. And then they all remembered what Peter had said when on the tarmac in Leipzig - Thanos won.

_"Something... is... happening," Mantis said, before she disintegrated into ashes._

The Avengers, both on and off-screen, gaped at where she had just stood.

"This is what Peter meant when they lost," Barnes whispered, speaking for the first time in the whole viewing. "He must have disintegrated too."

Tony pursed his lips and turned to watch the screen. At least this type of death looked relatively painless. Just... gone. No suffering. 

The Avengers were all having similar trains of thought.

They weren't prepared for what would happen.

_Drax was next to go, asking "Quill?" as he dissolved._

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_Quill slowly looked away from his friend, straight at Tony. Tony reached out. "Steady, Quill," he said, but they could hear the tremor he was trying to disguise in his voice._

_"Aw, man," Quill said softly, before turning to dust as well._

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_Peter whipped around to face Doctor Strange, who was calmly staring at Tony._

_"Tony, there was no other way." he said softly, calling him 'Tony' for the first time before fading away._

However, the Avengers didn't see him turned to dust, because Peter was looking at his own hands. At first, they thought he was looking at his hands to check that he wasn't fading away himself, but then they all saw the flakes of dust coming off his hands and arms and their hearts dropped. Despite knowing he had to die to show up back in this time, it wasn't going to make it easier to watch. 

_Peter had seen the dust, too, and he started to stumble towards Tony. "Mr. Stark?" he called out, fear lacing every word._

All the Avengers in the room fully expected those to be his last words. Tony was already feeling awful, knowing that the kid's last words were his name. But they all looked up in confusion when the monitor hadn't gone dark yet.

Natasha furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, trying to shove away the emotion at watching the teen disintegrate to figure out why he hadn't already. Everyone else had dusted away in a couple of seconds, only long enough to say two or three words. Yet Peter was still mostly formed, only his fingertips flaking away. On screen Tony had turned around and was watching with horror in his eyes.

Tony realized what was going on first, because he knew what the kid's powers were.

"No." he breathed out shakily. No, no, no. Not Peter. Peter didn't deserve this. The Avengers registered the fear in his tone, and he bit out four words that shattered his insides, and theirs. "He has enhanced healing."

They immediately understood the implications- that Peter's body was literally _fighting to hold itself together_ , putting him in immense pain. The tension roiled in the room like a live rattlesnake, curling and striking each one of them with its fangs of fear, until every single person felt like they could throw up. Some more than others.

_Onscreen, Peter continued to stumble towards Tony. "I don't feel so good," he muttered._

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_Tony, trying to be calm while his voice shook in terror, tried to reassure the kid. "You're alright," he said, and everyone knew it was a lie, a lie, a lie._

_Peter's voice shook as he stuttered over his words. "I don't know what's- I don't know what's happening. I don't-" a quick glance down showed his legs falling apart, and he stumbled into Tony's arms._

If they didn't feel sick before, they did now, watching Tony look in utter horror at the boy he held in his arms. Scott swallowed and wanted to look away because _that was Tony's kid_. Whether he admitted it or not, the kid was his responsibility, and he was watching him slowly suffer and fade in his arms. They were... lucky (for lack of a better word) that they were watching from Peter's recorded suit video, not Tony's, or they would've had to watch the light in the teen's eyes slowly die out...

Tony didn't want to keep watching, but he did.

_Peter fell into Tony's arms, holding tight with his arms while starting to cry in fright. "I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go, Mr. Stark, please. Please, I don't wanna go. I don't wanna go..." There's a short pause where Peter fell backwards, the only thing visible being Tony's distraught face and the orange, unwelcoming sky._

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_The suit's cameras started glitching out, too much of the system fading away to work properly, and they heard Karen's voice trying to talk to Peter one last time._

_"G-...bye-... -eter." she crackled out and Peter's eyes found his mentor's one last time._

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_"I'm sorry," he whispered, and the cameras went dark, static overtaking all sound._

Wanda bit her bottom lip harshly and turned away from the screen, blinking back tears. The boy's last words had been 'I'm sorry.' Not anger at anyone or anything, not angry that he'd died too early. Just a quiet I'm sorry in a final attempt to make his mentor feel less guilt.

Vision glanced concerningly at Wanda. He wasn't human- while he did have emotions, he generally deferred back to logic and observations to try and distance himself from an emotional situation. Similar to Tony Stark's coping mechanisms; he probably adopted them from JARVIS, his predecessor, who Ultron technically killed to make him. Though he didn't want to bring up any past grievances so he tried to distance himself from any similarities with the man. So he sat helplessly by, watching as everyone else in the room tried and failed to digest Peter Parker's death.

Bucky stood in his corner, surveying everyone elses' reactions. He didn't even know the kid, and neither did anyone else, really, but something about seeing all this through Peter's eyes and realizing just how much happened in one day ate away at all of them. He pushed it to the side, though, ignoring his emotions like he'd been taught. He could see the Black Widow doing the same, though the fact that he was a kid probably struck closer to her past than she would have liked.

Sam turned his head to the side, pursing his lips, and he felt the urge to comfort the kid. He'd been a therapist for his army mates, and after seeing all this, Sam knew the kid would probably get- if he didn't already have- PTSD from all this. If he was one of the very lucky ones he possibly wouldn't, but adding everything together and piling on the stress of having a secret identity and being a teenager, it was extremely unlikely that he wouldn't eventually get it. He sighed, tearing his eyes away from the screen to glance at Cap, who he saw was pretty shaken up. He'd probably have to have therapy sessions with everyone in this room after they all watched this, if their blanched, stressed faces were enough to go by.

Clint and Scott kept looking at each other and then away again, both of them being fathers. That paternal instinct generally applies to any kid, no matter if they're yours or not, and Peter definitely fell under that category. Scott kept also glancing at Tony, who he knew felt guilty just by the look on his face. He couldn't imagine how he'd feel if Cassie dusted away painfully in his arms. If she ever returned, he'd probably never be able to look her full in the face again without guilt eating away at him every time he remembered her calling for help he was unable to give. He shook- or attempted to shake- these thoughts away, but he was unable to and ended up looking at Tony again.

Cap just kept staring at the wall, not really seeing it. Even though it wasn't even him who'd been holding the kid, and he wasn't even actually present- he didn't even _know_ him, for Christ's sake!- he couldn't stop hearing his desperate pleas in his mind. Steve had always been a leader, taking control of a situation when no one else could, but now it felt like Peter- a boy he barely knew- was the one controlling everything this time around, going so far as to break down Steve's mental walls and send his brain on autopilot.

Natasha, like Bucky, was trying to shut it out. Peter reminded her of herself before the Red Room had snagged her away, crushed her real identity and shaped her into something new. Thinking of the video-Peter compared to the Peter she'd seen fleeing up to his room a while ago- he'd already changed. This was Peter's 'Red Room' experience, a traumatic childhood event that chipped away at the person he was and used those broken chips to create a beautiful mask, a layer to protect the damaged mess underneath. That mask had not yet been perfected for Peter; when Natasha had looked into his eyes, all she'd seen was pain. And she'd never forgive herself if she allowed him to fully build that mask and turn into someone like herself. She wouldn't let it happen; she'd break those walls down herself if she had to.

Rhodey was staring at his best friend, the man he'd known since college. He could barely process what he'd seen; he thought he was going to see Tony die, but instead he had to watch Peter- the boy Tony cared about more than himself- die instead. And the worse part? The worst part is that he had to watch Tony _break_. Despite the fact that the Tony in front of him had two years less to bond with the Spider-boy, he was obviously just as shaken up as the video-Tony when it came to his death. Maybe it was seeing how effortlessly the two interacted. Maybe it was seeing Peter's reaction to Tony's own near-death (not that there wasn't already an abundance of those). Maybe it was the fact that Peter was begging _Tony_ to help- no one else but Tony. He was calling out, not to Iron Man, the superhero in gaudy red and gold armor, but to Tony Stark, the man who cared about him. Maybe it was the fact that Peter's last words had been 'I'm sorry.' Because he knew Tony well enough to know he'd beat himself up over it.

And Tony?

Tony couldn't breathe. He could feel the glancing stares, bouncing and skidding off his hunched form, and he could feel Rhodey's gaze drilling a hole in the side of his head, but he couldn't breathe. His chest was constricted, like a bird of prey had its talons embedded in his heart and it was trying to rip it out. Peter's words rang in his head.

_I'm sorry._

__

__

_I'm sorry._

_I'm sorry._

He still knew, logically, that he'd barely been around the kid. He didn't know his favorite color, his favorite food, what he liked to do in his free time, how he liked his sandwich, none of that. 

_I'm sorry._

__

__

_I'm sorry._

_I'm sorry._

Yet somehow that didn't seem to matter when the kid had died in his arms, pleading, begging for Tony to save him while he could only watch with guilty eyes and a heavy heart. A heart so heavy, in fact, that maybe he'd welcome the bird of prey to rip it out so he could just feel emptiness instead of this clogging guilt, weighing down on his ribcage and clouding his throat, making every breath a struggle.

_I'm sorry._

__

__

_I'm sorry._

_I'm sorry._

What the kid was sorry for, Tony didn't know; he only knew that the kid had said it, meaning lacing his words, and the video-Tony's eyes had grown heavier.

_I'm sorry._

Yet another death, another mark on his chalkboard of crisis. Yet unlike the other inch long tallies, this one was a foot tall and made an awful screeching noise as he dragged the chalk to mark it. Almost like the universe was screaming at him for this.

_I'm sorry._

The kid had died, and it was on him.

"I'm sorry, Peter."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, good god that was long. It's 13,261 words. Shit, man.
> 
> Uh, this was super long and I wanted to get it published tonight but it's 3:55 AM and I'm exhausted, so I apologize for any grammar mistakes. I went back and reread it 2 times, but I keep feeling like there are some tense changes in there that I didn't catch- it's all supposed to be in past tense but some of it may accidentally be in the present tense. So if you see any grammar mistakes or anything like that I'll try and fix it unless there's too much to be fixed. 
> 
> So, uh, thanks, and hope you enjoyed this chapter! It really killed me to write and took me like a solid 2 days and ow, my neck but it was worth it. Comments are appreciated to let me know what you think! :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony watches the footage and sees his and Peter's relationship bloom- but he also finds out the secret of his parent's death.
> 
> ;))) Have fun- we're not even at the angsty parts yet ;)))

"I'm sorry, Peter." Tony choked out. Like... choked, choked. Whenever he heard someone talking about 'choking on their words' or some shit like that, he'd always rolled his eyes and, depending on the person talking, decided whether or not to stay or abandon the situation completely. He was a man of science and mechanics, and it wasn't possible to be choking on nothing, especially not on _feelings_ \- things that were just chemicals excreted by the brain. 

Oh, how wrong he was.

The feelings, arising from his very core, swarmed up his throat, causing him to swallow and try and force them down, similar to the feeling one gets when they're about to vomit. His breath came quicker than normal, and no matter how many times he swallowed, attempting to get rid of that _annoying, painful_ lump in his throat, it wouldn't budge, and soon he had no moisture in his mouth left.

He felt a hand, comforting, warm, and familiar, rest on his back, grounding his mind so it didn't drift away, back to the holographic screen, back to-

His shoulders shook and his breath hitched, but the hand remained. Rhodey's hand. It was painfully similar to the position they used to take up while at MIT almost every morning after Tony got wasted at some party the night prior.

Tony drew in a long, shuddering breath, but he'd managed to keep the panic attack at bay. He stumbled up and towards the door, instinctively grabbing the case holding the Iron Spider suit in it and taking it with him. No one uttered a word of protest behind him, though Tony wasn't sure whether that was due to them being just as shaken up as he was or whether Rhodey was giving them all a shut-up-or-you'll-wish-you-were-dead stare. He was willing to bet on the latter, though, and he couldn't be more thankful to his long-time friend for knowing just what he needed at the moment.

Now outside of the room and free of everyone's inquisitive, searching, _intrusive_ gazes, Tony sighed and allowed most of the tension to bleed out of his limbs, though a significant amount remained. His jaw locked and his teeth gnashed together before he decided to call out to his AI.

"FRI, where's the kid?"

He knew, he _knew_ that the kid was safe in here, that he hadn't left and nothing had happened, or Fri would've alerted him. But there was a primal, instinctive (his mind violently shied away from _paternal_ ) fear clawing at his chest and sternum that he knew would only be appeased if he saw the kid alive, alive and not turning into _dryer lint_.

"He's in the empty room next to yours, Boss," Friday said. Tony opened and closed his mouth. Next to his? No one took the room next to his. He said it was because he needed to work in there sometimes, though everyone knew it was simply because it made him feel less crowded and overwhelmed. And they didn't mind; it's not like there was a shortage of rooms in the Tower. But why was the kid there? 

"He appears to be asleep," Friday continued, and Tony nodded, the fear - coiled in his chest where his mechanical heart used to be - loosening but not disappearing, not yet.

The elevator slid open and he stepped out onto his floor, quietly moving towards the door placed directly next to his. His hand grasped the cool doorknob and he turned it, opening it slightly without a sound. He was extremely thankful that his doors didn't creak- though if they did, Tony wasn't sure whether he'd wake Peter or not (the poor kid looked exhausted). The beam of soft yellow light from the hallway spilled into the dark room, illuminating the kid's peaceful and youthful expression and causing a halo of golden light to wrap around his head, adorned with a mass of curly brown hair.

Seeing the kid here, alive, breathing, and bathed in yellow light, the unpleasant coil of emotions in his chest finally unraveled, and a soft sigh escaped his mouth. Eyes lingered on the kid's face, reluctant to look away, and a small smile graced Tony's face as he slowly shut the door, plunging the room into darkness once more with the Spider-kid none the wiser.

~ ~ ~

Tony returned to the elevator, though this time he chose to go to his lab rather than the common room where everyone was still most likely gathered. 

He was met with the welcoming smell of motor oil and the faint clicking of computers and machines. He placed the Iron Spider case on the lab table, pulling up the now-blank holoscreen.

"Fri, dear, connect with Karen for me."

"Will do." his AI replied, and seconds later, a new feminine voice spoke.

"Hello, Mr. Stark," Karen said.

"Hi Karen," he said, pausing. He knew what he _wanted_ , but he didn't know how to say it. "You recorded a lot of things about the next 2 years, right?" he asked, not waiting for an answer. "Can you... can you run through all the footage and pull out anything that has Peter and I in the same video? I need to see how I acted around him; what Peter is expecting of me," he mumbled the last sentence to himself, though Karen still answered.

"He'd expect you to be yourself," she said.

Tony shook his head. "He may expect that, but it's not what he _wants_. There's a certain way he wants me to act, and the kid's lost so much that I can't begrudge him this."

Karen chose to be silent until she collected the data he'd asked her to gather. "I've pulled out all the frames with you and Peter, Boss. It amounts to 247 days, 19 hours, 32 minutes, and 16 seconds of film. Would you like for me to narrow it down further?"

Tony groaned and ran his hand down his face. As much as he wanted to absorb every single minute future-him spent with the kid into his mind forever, he most definitely did not have 247 days to watch it all. "Yeah, yeah, Karen, keep the most important moments- but have some smaller interactions in there."

Despite her lack of response, Tony knew she had complied, and she soon announced: "I narrowed the footage amount to 14 hours, including major events that occurred in the two-year time span as well as footage that future FRIDAY recorded and sent to me when Peter wasn't in his suit. Would you like to watch it?"

Tony sighed, yet again, and nodded, settling in his chair.

He was in for a long night.

~ ~ ~

It started off with the airport battle. But Peter was still in his red-and-blue suit, still in the position he had planned to be in before this whole shitfest went down. Tony tensed, half expecting Peter to pop in like he'd done here- but of course that wasn't the case because this was _two years in the past_ \- for Peter, at least. That was extremely weird to think about. Then video-Peter raised something in his hands, and Tony had to do a double-take before he realized it was a phone. Peter's cell phone- the kid was _filming it_. Tony barked out an incredulous laugh.

How very _Peter_ of him.

 _Then he heard his own voice yell 'Underoos!' and Peter propped the phone up before he flipped in, webbing Cap's shield and taking it with him while binding the older man's arms in the process._

He huffed out a laugh and ordered that clip be sent to Cap- he was never letting the fossil live that down (even if it technically never happened here).

His amusement then morphed into second-hand embarrassment when the kid started spewing shit, and Tony sunk into his chair.

However, any and all laughter faded as he watched Team Cap and Team Iron Man square off. They both started walking... faster, faster... jogging... faster... then both teams were full out sprinting towards each other and he barely had time to process before a fist was coming at the kid's face. He let out an involuntary growl as Peter flipped out of the way neatly, and he barely realized he had been glaring at the screen until his eyes and head started to ache. He forced himself to stop glaring and continued to watch the fighting.

He proceeded to watch Peter beat Sam's and Barnes' asses, and a bit of his humor returned. He told Fri to send that to everyone as well, and she just ended up starting a folder of 'Peter Moments' to send to everyone later.

He watched him help take down Scott by using a movie reference, and he nearly jumped out of his seat when the man's arm swung out as he was falling and knocked Peter away. The sound of the kid letting out an _oof_ when the breath was knocked out of him and flung onto the cement below made him feel like someone had hit his own chest. He took small breaths, waiting for the kid to get up, and he saw himself come into Peter's frame of vision- though one of the lenses was tucked under the fold of the fabric, and the kid must've had a concussion from falling because he fought back against Tony until he recognized him. 

Tony didn't realize he'd taken in a huge breath and was holding it until his chest started to ache, and he released it, air whooshing out of his lungs as he raised a hand, shaky with an adrenaline crash, to run through his spiky hair. He looked at his hand in surprise. The only time he'd experienced an adrenaline crash this severe was when Pepper fell into the fire when fighting the Mandarin and he'd found out she was alive. The relief had been instant, his body shaking as he stared into her eyes, burning with a fire that had been there even before Extremis. To his astonishment, he felt the same relief crashing through him when the kid finally moved.

He gave half a groan, realizing exactly what was happening. _Good lord, this kid is already growing on me._

He could see the same relief in on-screen Tony's eyes as he benched Peter from the rest of the fight, though he hid it behind a well-worn mask.

This time, however, Tony didn't exactly _want_ to hide those feelings. Maybe it was the fact that he was alone at the moment, but he'd also watched the kid die and he immediately regretted shoving him away, even if he knew _why_ he did it. He always pushed people away, trying to stop them from being hurt, yet it seemed they always got hurt the same amount- or even worse because he wasn't there to protect them. He saw that with Pepper and now with Peter.

However, a yell from on-screen distracted him and he jerked his head up again, seeing a small gray fleck free-falling to the ground as a small red fleck tried to catch it and failed by a couple of seconds. With his heart jolting in his chest, he realized that the gray fleck was _Rhodey_ and the red fleck was him.

Rhodey crashed into the ground going at least 150 miles per hour, and a strangled noise escaped Tony's throat. _No. Not Rhodey._ Was his best friend going to _die_ in this fight? He didn't even know how or why he'd fallen- Peter hadn't looked up until he heard the yelling, and by then the man was already falling.

Tony's heart was doing its own free fall, and, as the man he knew as his best friend hit the ground, he felt his own heart slam into his ribcage and shatter into a million pieces. Not that he wasn't used to his heart breaking by now; it'd been shattered and glued back together countless times before, but there was only so much you can fix. If a glass breaks, even if you glue it back together, there will always be fractures, small lines and cracks that will prevent it from ever being perfect again. Tony thought his heart had been shattered permanently when Pepper fell into the flames, but when it turned out she was alive, he'd managed to glue it back together for her. Now, though, if Rhodey had truly been dead over some stupid fight, he wasn't sure if the instrument of love was broken beyond repair.

He hadn't caught him. He'd failed to catch Pepper and he failed to catch Rhodey.

 _You caught Peter._ His inner voice reminded him.

_Yeah, well, he died anyways, following me to Titan, so it didn't do any good now did it?_

"Karen, is he- do you know if Rhodey-" he cut himself off, unable to say it, but Karen filled in his unspoken question.

"Colonel Rhodes did not die in the fall, though he was paralyzed from the waist down. You then built him robotic legs that he used after the accident."

Tony swallowed and found that his hands were violently shaking again. 

_He didn't die. He didn't die. He didn't die._ He repeated over and over in his head, like a mantra, though it didn't seem to do any good as Karen's words looped around in his head.

_He was paralyzed from the waist down._

Tony put his head down on the desk and squeezed his eyes shut so hard that spots dotted his vision when he opened them again.

"Is there any more footage I need to see from that particular event?" he asked Karen quietly, shaken up by what he'd seen. He truly didn't want to watch anymore; he wished he could've lived in ignorance for the rest of his life. Instead, he'd be condemned to seeing Rhodey fall every time he closed his eyes; the image would be displayed in vivid color right next to the memories of Pepper falling to her death, the inside of the wormhole above New York, and now, Peter fading to dust on the blood-orange planet called Titan.

"No, there isn't," Karen informed him carefully, and Tony took a calming breath- or, at least, he tried to, but it hitched midway and turned into a half-gasp instead.

"Okay, great, great," he muttered distractedly. "Play the next clip, then."

She complied without further prompting, and suddenly the scenery changed drastically, showing Peter rapidly racing towards the bottom of the Washington Monument before taking a huge leap and landing 2 stories up the Tower. He started to climb like a spider up the side of the Monument, and Tony blinked in surprise at the speed Peter was able to scale a vertical surface with. 

"What is this showing?" he asked.

"A Chitauri energy core that Peter's friend was carrying detonated after going through an X-Ray, and it caused severe structural damage to the elevator."

Peter reached the top of the Monument and started hitting the window with his heel, unsuccessfully trying to break it.

"Why the hell did he have a Chitauri energy core in the first place?" Tony asked, completely bemused. As far as he knew, all the alien materials had been gathered up by the Department of Damage Control. Suddenly, he remembered what Karen had already told him while the team was watching the footage of Peter on Titan, about how Toomes was smuggling alien materials.

"Adrian Toomes, otherwise known as the Vulture-" Tony tensed at the name, feeling like an idiot for forgetting about him in the first place, "- was pilfering exotic alien materials, and Peter was unaware of what the core was. I believe he called it 'the glowy thingy.'"

Tony's mouth twitched up at the corners, unbidden.

Then he just about had a heart attack when Peter leaped off the top of the Monument without his parachute, and Rhodey's accident at the airport flashed before his eyes again. However, he'd underestimated Peter, and the boy used his web wings and webs to gain the momentum needed to smash the bulletproof windows. He also had to have incredible aim to have calculated all that within the time that he had in order to not become a spider splat on the side of the Washington Monument.

He watched intently as Peter saved his classmates, chuckling quietly when Peter caught the girl- Liz, Tony believed her name was, at least based off the shouts of her classmates- and Karen prompted him to kiss her. He ended up falling down the elevator shaft instead, attaching to the wall when he was far enough down not to be visible. He then climbed the rest of the way down before running to get his backpack to change and head back to the Monument. Peter pulled his mask off and the screen went dark.

Tony felt a pang of warmth in his chest at how obviously googly-eyed Peter was for Liz, but also one of unease, seeing how very different this could have gone if Peter hadn't managed to save her.

Tony stared at the now dark screen blankly and kept seeing Miriam Sharpe, the mother of Daniel, the kid who had died in Sokovia. That woman had been the one who was the main influence of him signing the accords, and he carried the guilt of her anguish in him every day. If Peter hadn't managed to save Liz...

Tony couldn't even begin to imagine the effect it would have on the young, upbeat teen, especially if it was one of his classmates.

The man shook these thoughts off. It was in the past- well, not really, but it didn't matter now. And both Liz and Peter were fine. 

Tony blew a breath out, leaning his head against the back of the chair, tired of his brain over-analyzing and breaking down every part of the kid's actions. Karen waited to start the next video until he'd composed himself, and he lifted his head back up just as the view of a harbor in Staten Island holding a smoking ferry filled the screen. Karen immediately explained and Tony listened as the footage played.

"Toomes was doing a weapons deal on the Ferry, and Peter tried to stop them but got distracted by the FBI, who had shown up, ordered by you, but you hadn't told him. His goons attacked and one of the weapons became unstable, cutting the Ferry in half. You were on the phone with Peter originally, but Peter was trying to break up the deal and he hung up on you, making you suspicious. He tried to stabilize the Ferry using his webs and was 98% successful, but it broke apart and he had to physically hold the two halves together until you arrived. You became angry and took the suit."

Tony groaned in utter frustration- but not at Peter. No, this frustration was aimed entirely at himself. It wasn't a feeling he was unused to; it was similar to when he just _couldn't figure out_ a project, but at the same time, it was completely different. Everything about this incident was all wrong- it seemed to be entirely Tony's fault, yet video-Tony placed the blame on Peter. Part of him was glad that it was Karen who'd told him, as her voice was clinical and she stated the facts of what happened rather than swerving around what he'd done. Yet another part of him desperately craved Peter to have told him, if only because he was selfish and wanted to hear the kid's own voice insisting that it was fine and that he didn't have to worry. Well, that is, if the kid even told him in the first place.

Sure enough, as he watched, the FBI agents showed up, they fought, and the Ferry was literally sliced in half. Tony pursed his lips as he watched Peter grab two of his webs to hold the Ferry that was rapidly falling apart, and when Peter looked at his own arms, Tony felt sick to his stomach. Sure, the kid was strong, but the suit was skin-tight and allowed nothing to the imagination. That meant, unfortunately, that you could literally see the kid's arm muscles tearing apart, clearly not meant for the strain of the task.

He could've fallen over in relief when he heard the Iron Man suit, and his own voice say: _"Hi, Spider-Man. Band practice, was it?"_ Though, said relief was short-lived when he heard the anger and disappointment lining video-him's voice.

The speech that followed was even worse, and Tony sat there, tense, as he watched video-him lash out at the kid who was always just trying to help.

And the kid's words hurt- of course they did, he wouldn't lie about that- but he knew they were well deserved. All video-him had done to inspire Peter's trust in him was to be Iron Man and Tony Stark. He hadn't been there for the kid, asked how he was doing, just dragged him off to Germany to fight a war that wasn't his, and then ditched him with a multi-million dollar super suit in his possession.

It seemed everywhere Tony went, he lashed out left and right, forwards and backwards, at both people who deserved it and people who didn't. God knows he's lashed out at Rhodey and Pepper countless times; how they've stuck with him through all these years- _especially_ pre-Iron Man- he'll never know.

Peter was definitely one of those people who did not deserve the tongue-lashing video-Tony was giving him. In fact, Tony couldn't even see the logic in his future self's argument. Sure, he'd sent the FBI, but he hadn't told the kid, hadn't acknowledged that he would _do_ anything about the situation; in fact, all factors pointed _away_ from him doing shit about it. He could see that all they did was get in Peter's way, distracting him and wasting response time, time that could've avoided all this. And how was the FBI in any way qualified to handle what a superhuman vigilante couldn't? 

Peter could've lashed out at that moment, yelled these things at video-Tony, insisted that he was wrong. He certainly had every right to. Yet Tony also knew that no matter how bad it got, Peter would never do that. For one, he knew Tony a lot better than he was letting on; though pretty much everyone knew that Tony Stark was one stubborn son of a bitch and that he wouldn't back down from this argument. Second, he was much too polite to do that, and he wouldn't risk losing his cool any more than he already had to yell at his mentor. Thirdly- and maybe the one that stung the most- Peter still hero-worshipped him, wanted to get his approval on anything that he did. He definitely wouldn't risk yelling to make the situation worse.

Tony saw every flaw in the relationship his (was it past or future?) self had with Peter (it was so much easier to see the flaws from an _outsider's_ perspective), and he was determined to fix that. For one, he did not want the kid to die in his arms (again) with thinking Tony was disappointed in him, or really anything that would warrant his last words to be _I'm sorry_.

_Because if you died, I feel like that's on me._

He half growled and tried to shake the intrusive thoughts away, but they stuck like an old, stubborn piece of gum to the fabric of his mind.

"Boss?" Karen's voice echoed around the quiet room. "Should I continue?"

Tony swallowed, preparing himself for the worst, and nodded. He already knew that since he'd taken the suit away, there would be no footage of the warehouse Karen had told him of, or the battle on Coney Island. So he didn't really know _what_ the next footage would be, because he didn't know what Peter would do with the suit immediately after he got it back. In the end, he prepared himself to see the worst, because that's what he always had to do.

What he saw, though, was not what he expected at all.

_"What the fuck?" Aunt May's shrill voice echoed through Peter's small room in the video, and Peter spun around, meeting his aunt face to face._

_"I- uh- I can explain," he said, rushed, a hand in front of him as if the woman was about to jump him._

Tony had to stifle a laugh because even though Peter was Spider-Man, Aunt May was one scary woman when she was mad.

"So that's how she found out, huh kid?" he muttered, chuckling. "Boy, you sure don't ever get a break, do you?"

_"Peter Benjamin Parker, I cannot handle this kind of stress-"_

May started a speech, and Tony was surprised that it was as short as it was. It only went on for 2 minutes, and if he was honest with himself, he thought it would've gone on for _at least_ 15 minutes. Yet May was nothing if not a surprising woman.

May cut herself off with a sigh on the holographic screen. In the span of the 2-minute tirade, Peter had shifted to sit on his bed, still in his suit, and based on his position, Tony was sure the kid had also expected the rant to go on for longer. May released a long breath, moving to sit next to her nephew on the rickety old bed that creaked and groaned when it had so much as a feather on it. Okay, maybe Tony was exaggerating. Regardless, the kid really needed a new bed.

May opened her mouth to speak, tone much softer now, and Tony suddenly felt like he was intruding on something private, untouchable, something only the kid and his aunt should be sharing. Yet he found himself watching anyways.

 _"So this is what's had you so anxious and tired," she said quietly, hand grazing over the spider emblem on Peter's chest as the teen nodded. "And the Stark Internship was a ruse, I'm guessing?"_ she asked, and Tony found himself listening closely to her tone and examining her face on the monitor to see if she was angry, but he only found acceptance and pure exhaustion in her movements.

_"Yeah," Peter admitted quietly, and May blew out another long breath._

_"You know, when you were- when you kept sneaking out at night, I suspected that you were... doing drugs or something. Going to parties, getting drunk, doing things teenagers do that technically aren't legal, but they're... well, normal."_

_Peter opened his mouth to protest, but May just kept on going._

_"Not... this. I never could have suspected this, though I really should have. It was never like you to go to those teen things." she paused, and Peter was dead silent. "I almost wish it was," she whispered so, so quietly._

_"May-" Peter's voice cracked, and May rushed to reassure him._

_"I know, I know that's an awful wish, and I should never, ever wish addiction or anything like that on you, and it's amazing that you're a hero, baby, it really is. I- it's just- there are things... instructions on how to deal with normal teenage situations. This? This, I don't know how to deal with." she paused again, voice lowering to a whisper. "And I'm, scared, Peter," she said, voice cracking again, and Tony knew, knew without seeing the kid's face that Peter wanted to cry. "Not for me, but for you. You- you've never had a normal life, and I wish that you could. But then you wouldn't me my Peter, the one I love. I love you for who you are, baby, a hero, I hope you understand that. I just- what if one day you-"_

Tony slammed down on the power button, shutting off May's line of speech before she could reinforce the fears that had been sitting in his stomach ever since he found out a 14-year-old kid was Spider-Man and he recruited him to fight his fellow Avengers.

_And if you died, I feel like that's on me. I don't need that on my conscience._

Neither did May. Tony gritted his teeth, eyes slamming shut, and he knew he never should've watched that footage. He didn't know why Karen had let him, given that it had nothing to do with Peter and Tony- that was a private discussion with him and his Aunt, and Tony had no right to intrude. But maybe she knew what would happen, knew that the vow he'd already made to protect Peter Parker had just increased its meaning tenfold. He had to make sure that Peter was safe. He had to make sure that May didn't lose her last family member.

He had to make sure Peter Parker stayed alive.

"Play the next one, Karen."

~ ~ ~

A couple of hours had passed, and Tony's joints felt like they'd snap and break if he dared move from his position, but his normally harsh face had a small smile on it after watching a lot more footage- courtesy of future FRIDAY- of moments that were smaller but just as important.

Peter helping Tony in his lab.

Peter and Tony on missions.

Peter trying to avoid telling Tony about his injuries after patrol, but Tony finding him anyways, rolling his eyes, and patching him up before sending him on his way.

The last one garnered a small upwards quirk of Tony's mouth, because even after a year and a half of visiting the Compound, Peter still didn't want to get in his way, didn't want to bother him, still addressed him with the formal yet cheerful 'Mr. Stark' that they'd both gotten used to.

Tony normally hated it when people called him Mr. Stark, not only because it reminded him of Howard, but because it meant that it was some stuffy rich person trying to get something out of him, or it was one of the press shouting questions at him. The ones he cared about called him Tony, and Mr. Stark was the name reserved for the leeches who tried to get shit out of him. That was the rule. But Peter Parker was the exception. He was always the exception.

When people called him Mr. Stark, he could always hear the underlying danger in their voices, the constant warning that he was being monitored and that if he said the wrong thing to them, the press would jump on him and his words and devour him like the rabid dogs they were. Yet when Peter said it, all he could hear was respect and admiration in the teen's young voice, and he found he didn't mind it at all, though he still wanted the kid to call him Tony because it meant that he'd finally gotten comfortable enough around the man to address him with familiarity. But it seemed no matter how he baited Peter- even trying when he was half asleep and definitely out of it- the boy still maintained the same, respectful, unyielding 'Mr. Stark.'

It was equally exasperating and amusing, and Tony resigned himself to hearing 'Mr. Stark' come out of the kid's mouth for the rest of his life.

But when the next video came on, Tony narrowed his eyes, seeing himself in the monitor and examining video-him's hunched back and sunken face, and he immediately knew that it was a bad day. He glanced into the top right corner of the holo-screen, seeing the golden star that alerted him that this piece of footage was important.

_Peter bounded in, the same as he had in every other video, yet this time, video-Tony didn't turn to greet him the way he always did. Didn't even utter a 'Hey kid,' just kept his back hunched and gaze firmly away from video-Peter._

_Peter, being annoyingly perceptive sometimes (and completely oblivious other times), picked up on the mood right away, happy steps turning into ones of hesitation as he stepped towards his mentor._

Tony sighed and pleaded with his future self not to lash out at the kid, though he knew it was inevitable, as Pepper and Rhodey had often found out whenever he was in these moods.

_"Mr. Stark?" Peter asked tentatively, stepping forward. "Are you okay?"_

_"Fine." came the short reply._

Tony could see the kid was obviously hurt by the answer, but he didn't show it, persisting.

_"Are you sure?" he asked. "Cuz you don't look fine. You look like you stayed up all night-"_

_"I stay up all night all the time, alright?" video-Tony snapped. "I'm fine, stop worrying about me."_

Tony sighed as he saw the hurt in Peter's eyes, but the kid didn't show it to the Tony on screen, merely nodding and heading towards the door.

_"I'll... be upstairs," Peter said softly. "May thought I'd be staying till 8, but it's fine if you want me to leave early." he paused. "You can just get FRIDAY to tell me, you don't even need to tell me yourself." Peter hesitated, obviously wanting to say something else, but he turned on his heel and left the room quickly, heading towards the common room in the Compound._

The time stamp on the video as it sped forward showed that it was just about an hour after video-Tony had snapped at Peter when said person decided to brave the common room and the boy inside it.

_Peter heard the footsteps and looked up from his homework just as Tony rounded the corner and came into the room._

_"Hi, Mr. Stark," Peter said, obviously unsure of what the response would be. After a few moments of silence, Peter started to reach for his bag, ready to pack up and leave, but Tony held up a hand to stop him._

_"Hey kid," he said, looking at the kid's face. "Sorry," he said abruptly, not providing any more context, but Peter seemed to understand what it was for and he didn't push it, accepting the apology without further question._

For that, both video-Tony and real Tony were grateful. Even Pepper and Rhodey, as understanding as they were, sometimes didn't drop the topic when Tony wanted them to, but Peter somehow understood and left it behind them, following video-Tony back down into the lab.

_They worked in relative silence, and though it wasn't uncomfortable, it wasn't normal either._

_Video-Tony sighed and put his tools down, decidedly not looking at Peter when he next spoke. "Just a bad day." he got out, before sighing again, muttering the next sentence so quietly that the microphone almost didn't pick it up. "Gosh, I don't even know why I'm telling you this."_

Yet real Tony and video-Tony both knew _exactly_ why they were talking to Peter and not Rhodey and Pepper. For one, the kid understood his ramblings because he did it too, and two, he wouldn't hold it against him or walk on eggshells around him. He'd take in the information and store it away, but not treat Tony any differently. Maybe it was because he knew what it was like to hide his superhero problems from May, maybe it was just because he was naturally empathetic. Whatever the reason, Peter understood.

The rest of that day, though, neither Tony nor Peter said anything about the topic, and when Peter left, he said the same 'Bye, Mr. Stark' just as he always had. Yet this time, unlike when Peter had come in, Tony responded back with his 'See you tomorrow, kid.'

~ ~ ~

The timestamp on each video following that one showed the passing of the days. 

_The two never sat down and had a heart to heart about Tony's feelings on that dark day, because that's just not how Tony Stark works. Instead, he'd drop clues about it randomly on different days during different activities, and Tony watched as a bystander as Peter pieced the information together._

_"It was in Siberia," Tony said on a particularly cold day, watching the snow fall outside the window. Peter's brow furrowed as he took in the information, but he didn't say anything about it, launching back into a discussion with Tony about the tensile strength of his webs and how they kept slipping on the icy buildings._

_The next hint: "The reactor damage was done by Cap's shield."_

_Peter's face flushed slightly with anger with this bigger hint, but he nodded, obviously understanding more about the topic than real Tony did._ Evidently, whatever this event was happened after the airport battle but not too far after.

Video-Tony kept dropping hints, not outright ever saying the full story but leaving the kid to piece it together himself. Tony was doing that, too, and so far what he'd gathered from video-Tony's hints was that past Tony had followed Steve and Barnes to Siberia, and whatever had happened there had led to a full-blown fight where Steve ended it by smashing his shield into Tony's arc reactor, effectively shutting down the whole suit.

Tony closed his eyes, remembering Obie's malignant grin as he'd pulled the reactor out of Tony's chest, leaving him to die. His breath shuddered in and out, but he opened his eyes again, knowing that he was missing a huge clue of the story- the reason why Tony and Steve ended up fighting in the first place. It couldn't have been over the accords, because video-Tony hadn't followed them there for a fight, but Tony couldn't fathom what on earth would lead to such a violent altercation. Peter obviously didn't know either, but he wasn't going to ask, and video-Tony obviously wasn't ready to say what it was.

Finally, he did, but it was three and a half months after he'd told Peter the first hint.

_"Barnes killed my parents."_

Video-Peter dropped the wrench he was holding, and Tony was sure that if he himself was holding something, it'd be on the floor now, too. Blood rushed to his head, and his own words echoed around his head, stuck in a lonely loop.

He was about to either march up the stairs and punch Barnes to hell, or he was about to have a full-blown panic attack on the spot. But as Tony's vision cleared- if only for a moment- he saw deep regret in video-Tony's eyes. And he realized that regret was not for Barnes killing his parents- it was the fact that Tony then fought the duo. Video-Tony regretted fighting the two, because look where that got him- just a whole bunch of nightmares, and later, a team who wasn't united and ended up being defeated by Thanos.

So Tony took a deep breath, and exhaled.

The rage was still there, coming from a place deep within himself that still remembered his mother's warm hugs, vanilla smell, soft voice. But he also knew the consequences of getting angry over this, and he knew he couldn't afford that, he couldn't lose Peter again- or half the world. Peter had been given a second chance, and if Tony messed this up, he knew they wouldn't get a third.

Inhale, then exhale.

His eyes returned to the screen, unbidden, and he saw video-him gauging Peter's reaction. Anger had flashed over Peter's face once again- and Tony felt a flicker of warmth in his chest coming from the fact that Peter's anger was _for_ Tony, not directed _at_ Tony- but the boy had never really been one to hold on to anger. 

Peter nodded, and looked up at Tony once. There was something calculated in his gaze, and before either video-Tony or real-Tony could figure out what he was going to do, Peter wrapped on-screen Tony in a quick hug before letting go. Onscreen Tony was stiff with surprise, but Peter looked at the clock, saw that it was 8, and he grabbed his things before turning around to leave.

_"Bye, Mr. Stark," he said, quieter than normal, but in the same tone of voice as if he hadn't heard one of his mentor's biggest secrets and then wrapped him in a hug._

_"Bye, kid, see you tomorrow," Tony replied as if nothing had happened, and they both turned around, Peter leaving through the door while Tony turned to a project._

_They both knew they'd never bring up the topic again, Peter out of respect for Tony, and Tony out of just not needing to, but both knew what had happened, and they would always know._

"That was the last video, Boss," Karen informed him, and he let out a breath.

"Okay, thanks Karen," he responded, getting out of his chair, joints popping. He stretched before reaching out to turn off the holo-screen. His hand froze in mid-air seeing Peter's slightly smiling face on the screen, and he himself gave a small smile of his own before turning off the monitor and heading towards the door.

"Fri, lock down the lab for me, will you?" Tony asked, stepping out into the dimly lit hallway as he walked towards the elevator. He heard the whirring of locks clicking into place rather than verbal agreement from Friday, and the next sentence he uttered was more addressed at himself than to her. 

"I've got a Spider-Kid to talk to."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there is Chapter 5! So sorry this took so long for me to get out- I had a lot of work and was truly just procrastinating on writing it, but once I sat down and got to it, it was actually really fun and helped me to relax! Anyways, I've planned out all the Chapters of this story, and I do believe it will end up being 12 chapters in all, including an epilogue, if my brain decides to cooperate and not go completely off track. But we're almost halfway through, and the end of next chapter is where the plot should really start rolling! Chapter 7 is where we'll finally see where this is going to go...
> 
> well, you all will see how it's going to go- I already know what's going to happen.
> 
> And, as always, if you see any mistakes or think someone's OOC in this, let me know! I really had a struggle with Tony in this chapter, because he is definitely not one for heart to heart discussions, so I thought maybe he'd drop hints to let someone know what's going on without saying it. And I do think that Peter would understand him, the same way Tony would understand Peter.
> 
> Well, that's all for now.
> 
> 7024 words.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter and Tony finally talk, and they find something out about one Doctor Stephen Strange...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! With the completion of this chapter we will officially be halfway through the book (provided things go as I've planned).
> 
> Also, I sincerely apologize for abandoning this book for, wow, almost a whole half a year now (at least by the time I get this chapter out, because at the moment, I know I have a test tomorrow to study for and midterms in a week.) But thanks for sticking around, and, if you follow my oneshot book, you'll know that I hope to be able to update much more regularly, now that I've sorted some personal issues out. Regardless, enjoy!
> 
> ~ ~ ~
> 
> Yeah by the time I'll have published this it'll be... January 18th. And I'm right in the middle of midterms but whatever. Inspiration struck me.

Tony's steps echoed loudly in the empty hallways. Before today, he would've thought nothing of it; perhaps he'd even find the silence welcoming. Yet after hearing about Thanos and his plan- and more so, how he _succeeded_ , everything became dangerous. Sounds were too loud, heartbeats sped up, and monsters lurked, sneering, in shadowy corners.

Tony turned around a sharp corner and found the elevator doors open and ready to slide shut behind him. Logically, he knew that FRIDAY had opened them and that she was waiting for him to step in so the elevator could take him up to Peter. Yet in the irrational, superstitious part of his mind- the part he tried so desperately to push back, because he was a man of science, not of monsters and magic- he felt like the elevator would swallow him whole. That the doors would clamp shut with a hollow, metallic bang and that he'd be trapped here forever.

However, when he actually stepped into the elevator, the doors slid shut smoothly and without a sound- similar to the ascent of the machine. Tony watched the red numerals signifying the floors flick up, up, up. He found solace in the fact that they were going up, not down, because if they were going down all he'd be able to think of was a ticking clock, a time bomb, glowing numerals counting the hours, minutes, seconds to his death.

He shook himself of these thoughts as he stepped out of the elevator again, this time on Peter's floor. Why did he keep thinking of death? It wasn't like he was a stranger to it.

Yet every small motion, every movement, triggered something in Tony's mind, a sense that was screaming 'danger' at him. It hadn't shut up since he'd heard of Thanos, hadn't disappeared when he watched the videos with the team, and hadn't disappeared when he watched the videos by himself.

Every couple of moments he'd shiver involuntarily, an inexplicable horror climbing up his spine and resting at the base of his neck.

A hand came to rest on Peter's doorknob, and, just like he did before he went downstairs to watch the videos, Tony cracked the door open and peered in.

He was met with a much different scene.

Before, there had been a teen, tucked under too many blankets, sleeping lightly yet blissfully.

Now, blankets and pillows and sheets were thrown asunder, some of them torn completely in half. Scraps of fabric littered the room. Tony's eyes scanned the wreckage of the once-organized room and his gaze quickly found the center of the chaos: a writhing, struggling- yet still asleep- Peter.

A nightmare.

Tony froze at the realization, remembering all the times he'd had a nightmare and had lashed out at Pepper or Rhodey when they tried to wake him up. He didn't know how Peter would react; whether he was someone who lashed out in his dreams or tried to hide himself away. Tony decided to take the risk; he couldn't just stand here and watch Peter suffer.

If he got flung across the room in the process of trying to wake the kid up, well then... he'd get flung across the room. 

"Hey!" he tried calling out, nearing the thrashing form of the teenager. "Hey, Peter. Kid. Spider-Man." At the sound of his superhero name, Peter's fist shot out and Tony narrowly missed being sucker-punched in the stomach.

"Okay, no superhero names, got it," Tony said, taking a moment to pause before reaching out and grasping Peter's shoulder firmly. "Kid, wake up, it's not real."

 _But it could have been._ His brain reminded him, even as he dispelled the thought. His grip tightened minutely on the teen's shoulders, and, with a gasp, Peter woke, jerking up so quickly that his head connected with Tony's. Tony winced, and Peter, though still half asleep and panicked, started apologizing once he saw the look on his mentor's face.

"I- ah-" Peter started, rubbing his own head. "I'm so sorry Mr. Stark-"

Tony waved him off. "It's fine kid, I've had worse."

Peter blinked, looking quite miserable despite his mentor's reassurances, and Tony moved to sit down on the edge of the bed. They stewed in silence for a moment before Peter spoke, appearing to be more lucid now that his brain had a chance to process everything that had just happened. Tony could see his cheeks heating up in embarrassment, and he opted to shift a bit and relax against the backboard of the bed to show Peter through his body language that he wasn't mad or annoyed.

"So." Tony started, after another awkward moment. There was a beat of silence as both looked away from each other's gazes- each was astutely aware that Tony was not Peter's Mr. Stark, and that Peter wasn't Tony's Peter. Tony wracked his brain, trying to think of something to say that would let Peter know that he didn't need to hide anything from Tony, without making him think that his privacy had been invaded by Tony watching those videos of just the two of them. While technically he had every right to do so- it was his tech, first of all, and second, it involved his future self- he still felt like he had intruded on something secret, private; something that should have stayed between Peter and the Tony he knew. Yet it was too late now, and Tony blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"I know the Winter Solder killed my parents." Tony said bluntly, wearing a mask of indifference even as he cringed in his mind. Okay, perhaps not the best conversation starter he could have come up with, but it'd been on his mind ever since he heard about it. He could have backtracked right then and there, made up an excuse on how he found out, but Tony Stark didn't back out of things. So he rolled with it. 

He chanced a quick glance at Peter before continuing, noticing the way the boy's eyes blinked rapidly in surprise at the statement. Looking Peter in the face caused another wave of guilt to crash over him for invading on his privacy (and for all the idiotic things future Tony did), so he tore his gaze away from his mentee and barreled on before he could say anything.

"I watched the videos." he said, sighing. "Not just the ones with... Thanos," he could see Peter flinch slightly at the name in the corner of his vision "but ones with just the two of us. Because obviously, we interacted more in those two years and I needed to catch up." He turned his gaze back to Peter, who was staring at him, and he felt another wave of uneasiness crash over him. "I know it was... sort of an invasion of privacy, but I didn't want to overstep boundaries..." _or act like a jerk._ the silence implied.

Peter was silent, the only sound in the room their breathing and the shifting of Peter's sheets. Tony kept his gaze fixed on the wall, mind going a mile a minute. Was the silence good or bad? Had he already fucked it up in the first day? How did future Tony _do_ this, emotions are so _hard_.

Peter broke him out of his thoughts. "Thank you, Mr. Stark." he choked out, and Tony looked to him in surprise, noting the red-rimmed eyes. Wait. Did he just make the kid _cry_? How the hell did he mess up so _badly_ every time? Peter obviously didn't notice his inner turmoil as he continued. "That was really thoughtful of you."

Oh. _Oh_. Peter was crying... in gratitude?

Emotions are confusing.

Tony's brain short-circuited as all his questions about what he'd done wrong shuddered to a stop. He blinked, surprise overtaking him, and words froze in his mouth, his tongue dry.

"Yeah, no problem kid." he said, with a small smile. His shoulders relaxed, and he rolled his neck around, not realizing how stiff he'd been. The silence returned, though much more comfortable this time. Tony wanted to ask about the nightmare, but at the same time he recognized that it wasn't his place and that it was best to allow Peter to come to him if he wanted. Though he probably wouldn't; Peter was just like him in terms that he was as stubborn as a mule.

_I just wanted to be like you._

"So how much do you know?" Peter broke the silence. Tony chanced a look at him.

"What Karen deemed important." Tony replied. "Toomes, dropping in a lake, the ferry-" he rubbed the back of his neck in guilt, remembering how much of a jerk he'd been. "- the warehouse, Coney Island, and then some of us working in the labs... finding out about Barnes..." he trailed off. Peter shifted awkwardly next to him.

"Are we- are we gonna have a problem about that?" he asked tentatively; even without him saying the name, Tony knew he was referring to Barnes. He also noted how Peter used 'we' even though he wasn't his problem; he didn't have to be involved. It was nice to know he had the kid on his side. "Can you work with him? I mean, I know it's not easy, and it's kind of unfair to ask you to work with the guy who, you know." Peter said, rambling, yet he avoided outright saying 'killing your parents' like he was afraid he'd trigger Tony. "Which, to be honest, is completely fair- I mean, I know if I were to have to work with the guy who killed Ben-" he cut himself off awkwardly. "Well... point is, I don't think I could." Peter finished.

Tony gave a wry smile. "I kind of have to, kid." he admitted. "Last time I started something over that, we were a mess when Thanos came."

He thought he heard a "you weren't the one who started it" mutter from Peter, but he couldn't be sure.

"Still, that doesn't excuse the fact that he did it." Peter said quietly, a tad bit more serious.

"True, but I have to get my priorities straight." Tony said tiredly. "No one gets a choice when it comes to the end of the world."

Both sat in silence, thinking back to the sheer amount of power Thanos had exhibited in Titan, and they both knew that Tony was right. Peter dropped the subject- a good thing, too, because Tony was getting a bit squeamish about how much the conversation was focusing on his feelings.

"What time is it?" Peter asked. Tony looked to the left with the intent to look at the alarm clock propped there- well, what used to be an alarm clock. Peter looked sheepish as Tony took in the crushed lump of metal- it hadn't exactly survived Peter's thrashing around.

"Huh." Tony said. Then, before Peter could apologize for something that could be easily replaced: "FRI, what time is it?"

"It is 3:41 in the morning, boss." she said.

"Are the Avengers still up?" Tony asked.

"Yes, they're watching TV in the communal room." she responded.

"Thanks FRI," Tony said. He looked over to Peter. "You wanna join us for movies or try and fall asleep again in another room?" he was already getting up, knowing exactly what Peter would say, having experienced nightmares himself.

"I'll come to the communal room." Peter said quietly, getting up. He took in the torn sheets and shattered belongings. "I'm sorry for messing up the room. I'll come back later to clean it up." he promised. Tony waved him off.

"No need for that, kid." 

Peter started to protest but Tony picked up one of the blankets that had avoided certain death and shoved it in his arms.

"All the blankets will have been taken by the Avengers in the room, so you might as well take that one." Tony said, leaving no room for argument as he strolled down the hall towards the elevator. He heard Peter quietly shutting the door behind him before following his mentor with scuffling steps. Tony remembered walking down this same hall less than an hour ago and feeling like something would jump out to get him. Now, with Peter following him, it felt much warmer and safer than it did before. Despite the teen's tousled and tired appearance in the pristine halls of Avengers Tower, he fit right in.

Both were quiet as the elevator took them down to the communal floor, Tony lost in thought and Peter taking it all in. It struck Tony that Peter had never actually been in Avengers Tower; it'd been sold and they'd moved to the Compound according to Karen. The doors slid open with a swish and they stepped out into the room. The Avengers were scattered on the assorted furniture, talking in small groups. The air was a bit tense; everyone still remembered that just a few hours ago they'd been fully ready to fight, even if they'd put their issues aside for the moment to focus on the real problem at hand. The TV was on but it wasn't playing a movie; it just had a news station on low volume as background noise. A quick scan around the room showed that only Sam and Steve were really paying attention to the news, while talking in hushed voices to each other. Everyone else was ignoring it. 

Tony sighed. "Guess it's not that interesting down here, kid." 

Peter shrugged, shuffling over to take a seat in the beanbag stuffed into the corner of the room. "I don't mind, Mr. Stark. I watch the news every evening with May anyways." Tony noticed how Peter's voice caught on May's name- he knew they'd have to call her in eventually, because they all needed Peter to defeat Thanos, and there was no way to keep her in the dark (not that they should, anyways). For now, though, he'd let her have a few more days of believing Peter had an internship and was in Germany.

By now, all the Avengers had noticed their arrival, but they respected Peter's privacy and did no more than acknowledge him with nods, continuing their conversations. Peter seemed to relax when he realized they wouldn't be questioning him, and he sunk into the beanbag, wrapping the blanket around himself and training his eyes on the TV screen.

Tony did the same, settling in the chair and allowing the flashing lights from the TV and the hushed voices in the room to blur together. He closed his eyes, relaxing in the atmosphere of the room.

~ ~ ~

Peter stared at the TV screen, seeing flashing lights but not absorbing any of it. It was like the string of neurons that led from his cornea to his brain to process images had been snipped, and he couldn't make sense of what he saw. He hadn't told Tony this, but he couldn't shake the feeling that his nightmare was important. He was extremely glad Mr. Stark had respected his boundaries and not asked about his nightmare, because to be honest, he didn't completely understand it himself. Well, the aspect, in and of itself, was fairly simple. He was on Titan again. Reliving the snap. Which would make complete sense, as dying is a fairly traumatic event, but something just seemed... off. With Dr. Strange. He acted the same in Peter's nightmare as he did on that fateful day, but right before Tony woke him up, right before everyone dusted, the Strange in his dream had looked at him straight in the eyes. And Peter had seen it. The flash of recognition. The small nod. This Strange _knew_ that Peter wasn't really there. And then he'd woken up.

Just then, sounds from the room and the TV started filtering back into his brain. He picked up the words "Stephen Strange" and his head shot up, eyes focusing on the TV screen, absorbing the information for the first time since entering the room. Everyone else had heard the name too, and they each looked up, all of them watching the blonde reporter standing next to a completely wrecked car hanging off the side of a cliff.

"Famous neurosurgeon, Doctor Stephen Strange, was in a car accident earlier tonight. It took authorities two hours to find him. Sources state that he was on the phone with a coworker when he crashed. Witnesses claim he was going far faster than the speed limit and was swerving in and out of lanes when he hit the back of another car and careened off the road..." the lady kept talking, but Peter's mind was being dragged elsewhere, and not of his own accord this time. Something was yanking, tugging at the strings of his mind. Peter tried to fight it, but he was still exhausted from the events of the day and his mind gave in.

He could feel his body going slack and sliding off the beanbag, and he could just barely hear the exclamations of alarm over the rushing in his ears. He closed his eyes, trying to ward off the feeling of vertigo, even though he was sitting perfectly still. His spidey sense alerted him of the exact moment when another person entered the room, and Peter snapped his head up and opened his eyes.

In front of him was Dr. Strange.

Not the younger version who'd just crashed his car. No, this was _Dr. Strange_. The same Dr. Strange from Titan. The same Dr. Strange from _Peter's_ timeline.

"Ah, hello Spider-Man." Dr. Strange greeted him. It almost sounded like he was speaking inside Peter's head, while also speaking regularly. All weird and echo-y; kind of like in the new Star Wars movie, how the Jedi communicated with Rey- _okay, time to stop referencing movies in bad situations, Peter_. He chided himself, refocusing on Strange, who looked like a ghost.

"I thought you dusted?" Peter asked uncertainly.

Strange's lips quirked into a small smile. "Yes, but didn't you?" Peter blinked and shrugged, knowing full well he had no clue how the stones worked. Dr. Strange sighed. "Before I gave the time stone to Thanos, I activated it and put a hidden spell on it, telling it that when Thanos snapped- because in all the timelines, he would- to send the one most capable of saving the world back in time to a year where they could make a difference. I knew that Thanos was no master of the stones; he wouldn't be able to detect a spell like that, much less take it off. What I didn't know, however, was that my astral form was too closely intertwined with the time stone because of the spell, and I was dragged along with you."

"Why don't you have your own body, though?" Peter asked. "I do."

Strange shook his head. "The spell only accounted to send the most able person back. My guess is that it's compensating for your inexperience by sending someone who understands the stones a bit better along with you."

Peter bristled a bit at the man calling him inexperienced- the contempt came through in his voice. He obviously didn't approve of the stone choosing a kid to send back. He did have a point, though- Peter really had no clue what he was doing.

"So why am I only seeing you now?" Peter asked.

Strange sighed, obviously a bit annoyed with Peter's constant questions, but he answered nonetheless. "I've been attached to you since Leipzig, trying to get your attention."

"It was you who sent the nightmare." Peter realized.

Strange nodded. "Yes. It wouldn't have been my first choice-" Peter acknowledged the apology with a short nod "-but it was the only way to shock your mind into thinking about the time stone. It's the only way you're able to see me, since I'm connected to it, and you kept shoving it to the back of your mind." A wry smile twisted his lips as he seemed to look at something over Peter's shoulder. Peter automatically turned, but nothing was there. "Looks like they're trying to get you back into the land of the living." Strange remarked.

Peter tilted his head in confusion at the odd wording. He wasn't dead, was he? 

"What do you mean?" Peter questioned the sorcerer.

"Your astral form had to be drawn out of your body to speak with mine, so your body appears to be in a comatose state at the moment." Strange answered.

Wonderful. Of course he'd go into a coma and freak everyone out on the first day travelling into the past. "How do I go back?" Peter asked the man, leaving the unspoken question clear. _Can_ he go back?

Strange nodded his head and gave a small smirk. He stepped closer to the boy and put his hands up, reaching for Peter's forehead. Peter stopped him by stepping back. He'd thought he wanted to get away from Strange, because he didn't seem like the type of guy who enjoyed hanging around kids, but now that he was actually going back, Peter panicked. Strange was the only one who really _understood_ him. All the others had only watched the battle; they'd never experienced the pure and utter _terror_ Peter felt on that battlefield. They never would.

Aware that the man would be sending him back soon, Peter bombarded him with questions. "Wait, will I be able to see you again? How will I free you? Are you just going to be a ghost forever? How are we supposed to defeat Thanos when we failed the first time?"

He fully expected Strange to be annoyed with the sudden question overload, but he just sighed and looked older and more tired than Peter had ever seen him. He softened his voice- not much, certainly, not to the extent at which he would associate with May or Ned, but it was definitely softer for Strange.

"I can travel anywhere around the world easily- with just a thought, I'm there. But when you want to speak with me, think about me and the time stone and it'll drag my astral form back to yours, given that we're still connected." Strange paused, a wry smile coming back onto his face. "That being said, don't make it a habit to drag me back over here, I need to... fix some things. Leave the escaping part to me; I'll talk to my... current self. I may have to stick around for a bit, though, if you don't mind- my old self is a bit of an arrogant ass." Peter gave a small grin, noting the man's attempt to cheer him up.

He may have been an arrogant asshole 99% of the time, but he wasn't a terrible person.

"And as for Thanos..." Strange continued, pausing. "I have an idea. Just let the Avengers know you saw me and I'll be back soon." 

He didn't allow Peter enough time to speak again, and before the teen knew it, the sorcerer had put his hands on Peter's temples- and with a quick flash, everything went dark.

~ ~ ~

**About 10 minutes prior...**

Tony's eyes blinked open when he heard a thump to his left. He turned his head and saw that Peter had slid off the beanbag. Tony sighed but chuckled and got up to wake him.

As he walked over to Peter's side and crouched next to him, Tony frowned. Something seemed wrong. Peter was never this still when just sleeping. He reached out to shake the kid's shoulder, his sense of dread only growing when he got no response.

"Peter?" Tony asked, shaking him. "Peter." he said, louder. The rest of the Avengers were focused on the two of them, and Steve got up and walked over to them. 

"Is he alright?" Cap asked.

"He's not waking up." Tony muttered, shaking Peter harder. He didn't so much as stir. "FRI, honey, what's up with the kid?"

"Mr. Parker has entered a comatose state." his AI replied. There was a beat of silence.

" _What_?" Tony asked, and several others voiced their confusion along with him. "FRIDAY, what the hell do you mean, comatose state? He was awake and watching TV a minute ago. Did he hit his head really hard on something?" Tony asked, looking around. Nothing stuck out to him.

"No, boss. According to my scanners, Mr. Parker was awake, and approximately 63 seconds ago, he collapsed and entered into a coma. However, his mind is operating normally and he has very active brainwaves."

"What the hell..." someone muttered. Tony found himself agreeing.

"Well, how do we get him up?" Clint asked.

"You can't." FRIDAY replied. "He has to do it himself."

Everyone soaked that in, and Wanda spoke up for the first time.

"I could...?" she said uncertainly, miming using her powers. Tony stared at her. Did he want to risk it? No, not at all. He didn't trust her in the _slightest_ , and she knew that. But on the other hand, even though Peter was a kid, they _needed_ him for this upcoming threat. And on another hand, Tony knew he couldn't stand by and do absolutely nothing. This was already freaky enough as it is.

Before he could reply to her, however, FRIDAY spoke. "Boss, I just detected a spike in his brainwaves. I think he may wake up soon."

"Define _soon_." Tony almost snapped at her.

"Within a couple of minutes."

Tony didn't think three minutes could last so long. The silence was agonizing, but no one dared to move or to speak; they were all watching Peter.

With a gasp, Peter jerked up, causing most of the people in the room to startle. Tony reeled back and then let out a sigh of relief.

The silence weighed heavily on Tony, only broken by Peter's heavy breathing- almost like he'd run a marathon.

"What the hell just happened." Sam deadpanned, stating what they were all thinking. 

Peter looked up when he was addressed, realizing they were all staring at him.

"Um." he said, eyes flicking rapidly between each person. Tony opened his mouth to say that he didn't have to answer right then, but the boy gestured to the TV.

"So... you all watched my suit's videos, yeah?" he started awkwardly, shifting off the floor and back onto the beanbag. Others did the same, resuming the seating arrangement they'd had before the- before whatever the hell just happened... happened.

Everyone nodded.

"Well, remember Dr. Strange? Apparently his astral form- his soul or something like that- was connected to the time stone which was connected to me so i just saw him-" Peter was speaking too fast, too jumbled for anyone to follow what he was saying.

"Woah, slow down, kid. Take it from the top." Tony said, eyeing Peter's hunched form.

Peter complied, and, damn, Tony had thought earlier today that nothing could be more wild than what had happened already. And boy, was he wrong.

Once Peter had finished explaining what happened- including his nightmare- everyone's brains were spinning.

"So is there any way _we_ can talk to the wizard?" Natasha was the first one to break the quiet, getting straight into the questions.

"Um, no, I don't think so-" Peter started awkwardly, when there was a large crash. Everyone's heads whipped around to see a cup on the floor, still rolling from where it had fallen off the table.

But there was no one near enough to the table to have knocked it off.

Tony got up, approaching the table warily. He picked up the cup and started to place it back on the table, thinking perhaps it had just been really close to the edge, when he noticed a letter placed there. A letter that hadn't been there before.

"FRI?" he asked, picking it up. "Who left this here?"

"I don't know, Boss." she replied. The hairs on the back of Tony's neck stood up, and he got the same haunting feeling he'd gotten earlier. "There was a strange energy form in that spot, and objects appeared to move to write the letter. That form knocked the cup on the floor."

Tony's head whipped around. "Is it still here?"

"Yes."

Everyone went on high alert at FRIDAY's confirmation, and Tony could see many of them picking up weapons and getting into defensive stances.

Peter's voice cut through the room. "It's alright, it's just Dr. Strange."

Tony turned to him. "Are you sure?" he asked. Peter nodded. "In that case..." Tony muttered, carefully opening the letter to reveal the neat handwriting. Sure enough, the signature at the bottom of the page was that of one Stephen Strange. Tony nodded in affirmation to the rest of the Avengers, who slowly relaxed.

What a weird day.

Tony unfolded the full letter and started reading.

"To the Avengers..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, we're halfway through! I'm so sorry, this is really bad (it's been such a long time since I wrote one of these chapters). And it's 2 in the morning and I should be studying but oh well.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed... my writing gradually got sloppier and sloppier but I was determined to post something (finally). Keep in mind that I still have 4 midterms left and a ski trip, though, so...
> 
> But there's no reason not to post something I've already written. :)


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